Uiryeong-gun Asks County Council, "What Is the Reason for the National Budget Project Cut?"

by Joo Sooeun

Published 11 Apr.2024 14:57(KST)

Updated 04 Aug.2025 15:59(KST)

Central Government National Budget Project ... 'Project Uncertainty', 'Unnecessary and Nonessential'!

Uiryeong-gun, Gyeongnam Province requested the county council to provide specific grounds for the reasons behind the budget cuts in the supplementary budget proposal.

On the 11th, Deputy County Governor Ha Jong-deok and senior officials held a press conference and issued a statement in the meeting room on the 2nd floor of the county office, asking for the reasons behind the budget cuts and urging not to overlook the inconvenience caused to residents due to the budget reductions.

Uiryeong County requested the county council to provide specific reasons and evidence for the budget cuts in the supplementary budget proposal.
[Image provided by Uiryeong County]

Earlier, the Uiryeong-gun council reviewed the supplementary budget proposal from the 4th to the 8th of this month and cut about 8.8 billion KRW, which is approximately 23.7% of the total 37.3 billion KRW. This adjustment scale is 29 times the average adjustment rate of 0.83% from the last six supplementary budget proposals.

On this day, the county criticized the council’s intention to cut even the national and provincial government-funded projects. Since the budget secured through central government public contests was also cut, the county is now in a position to return national funds and expressed concerns about future restrictions on national and provincial government support projects.

Deputy County Governor Ha Jong-deok said, “Selection for central government public projects was a significant achievement gained through fierce competition among local governments nationwide,” and added, “In the county’s financially difficult situation, national and provincial subsidies are desperately needed,” questioning the reasons for the budget cuts.

The county was selected for the Youth Village Shared Housing Creation Project public contest and received 1 billion KRW in national funds, but the Uiryeong-gun council completely cut this budget in the supplementary budget, ignoring the project’s validity and effectiveness as evaluated and recognized by the central government, citing reasons such as “uncertain project effectiveness” and “unnecessary and non-urgent.”

The county urged the council to promptly provide answers regarding the disappointment of the youth eagerly awaiting the creation of the Youth Complex Town.

Seven agricultural projects were selected for provincial public contests and had already completed the selection of subsidy recipients, but were cut due to “insufficient project plans.” The county stated that the amount of national and provincial funds cut this time reached 4.8 billion KRW.

Through the statement, the county requested, “Since the project validity has already been evaluated through strict central government review, please provide the grounds on what basis the county council independently judged the project effectiveness as uncertain.”

Additionally, the county asked for the basis on which projects prepared to resolve residents’ inconveniences and ensure full completion were deemed “unnecessary and non-urgent,” and projects expected to cause repeated damage to farmers were judged as having “insufficient project plans.”

Deputy County Governor Ha said, “The Uiryeong-gun council should take responsibility for this situation and promptly take measures to ensure that the projects desired by the residents proceed without any setbacks,” and added, “The county will focus its administrative efforts on restoring the budget cut by the council.”