Geochang and Hadong push forward with their own resources after the failure of the public offering for basic income for rural and fishing communities

After Gyeongsangnam-do excluded the remaining eight counties, excluding Sancheong, from the review of recommendations for the additional public offering for the 'Rural Basic Income Pilot Project', these regions are starting to come up with ways to survive on their own.

According to Geochang-gun on the 14th, nine counties in the province, including Uiryeong, Haman, Changnyeong, Goseong, Hadong, Sancheong, Hamyang, Geochang, and Hapcheon, participated in the basic income pilot project for rural areas hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

However, the province recently recommended only one place, Sancheong, to the government through its own review committee.

The reason behind the province's decision to recommend water shutoff is a huge financial burden.

If selected for the pilot project, 150,000 won per person per month in local currency will be paid, and since the government support ratio is only 50%, the remaining financial resources must be shared by the province, city, and county at 25% each.

The province's position is that if all nine counties are selected, it will cost the province more than 190 billion won per year, causing a serious blow to its financial soundness.

Some local governments that were eliminated from the recommendation began to take their own route, raising financial resources and devising measures on their own without support from the government or province.

Geochang-gun judged that the purpose of the rural basic income policy, promoting consumption in the region and the need for a virtuous economic cycle, was still valid, and decided to pursue its own 'Geochang-type basic income' separately from being eliminated from the contest.

Accordingly, the original draft of the 'Geochang-gun Basic Income Support Ordinance' was passed at the recently held 296th extraordinary session of the County Council.

The intention is to implement an independent basic income master plan even if it involves investing its own budget.

The county plans to go through follow-up procedures, such as promulgation of ordinances, to collect opinions from residents and proceed with public-private cooperation procedures.

Hadong-gun also recently announced the legislative announcement of the 'Hadong-gun Basic Income Support Ordinance Amendment', which aims to provide a savings-type prepaid card worth 50,000 won per month per county resident.

The plan is to complete the ordinance revision process within the year and to specify a detailed implementation plan through briefing sessions in towns and villages.

Goseong-gun, which has worked hard on the contest by forming a dedicated task force (TF), continues to suggest to the government that the government support rate be significantly increased from the current 50% to more than 80% and is urging institutional supplementation.

Other local governments, including Hamyang, Uiryeong, Changnyeong, and Hapcheon, also expressed disappointment and regret over the province's strict single recommendation review method and said they would continue to request additional applications and system improvements.

An official from Geochang-gun said, "It is unfortunate that the government's public contest selection was canceled, but our position remains unchanged that we must respond to the crisis of local extinction and revitalize the local economy. We will carry out the policy without a hitch with the county's own resources after thorough financial analysis and establishment of a detailed implementation plan."