Namdong-gu, Incheon, with ‘900 billion won in welfare expenses’… Not reflected in the budget of KRW 34.1 billion, including essential expenses

Namdong-gu, Incheon City, was unable to reflect 34 billion won, including essential operating expenses, in next year's budget due to increased social welfare costs and decreased tax revenue.

Lee Byeong-rae, head of Namdong-gu District, held an emergency financial assessment briefing on the 10th and said, “As the number of single-person households increases and we enter a super-aging society, the financial burden is increasing as demand for welfare and care increases.”

Namdong-gu's main budget for next year was set at KRW 1.3574 trillion, a 5.78% increase from the previous year, but the social welfare budget is KRW 986.2 billion, which is 73.56% of the entire general accounting budget.

District Mayor Lee explained that the tax revenue base has shrunk due to the increased burden of district budget matching due to national and municipal subsidy projects and the weakening of the local economy.

Accordingly, Namdong-gu was unable to reflect essential operating expenses and resident living-related project expenses worth 34.16 billion won in next year's budget.

Among these, the proportion of matching burden for national and municipal subsidy projects (KRW 13 billion) is the largest, followed by the refund of national and municipal subsidies (KRW 8.4 billion).

In addition, essential operating expenses, such as increased labor costs (KRW 2.9 billion) and one month's worth of waste disposal costs (KRW 2.6 billion), were not allocated.

It was also not possible to secure funds for projects that are closely related to the lives of residents. These include 3 billion won in infrastructure maintenance costs, 2.5 billion won in land purchase costs for Namdong AG Stadium, 580 million won in shingles vaccination costs, and 300 million won in parental leave incentives for fathers.

District Mayor Lee emphasized, “Most welfare projects are designed by the central or metropolitan government and matched by local governments, but the matching ratio is changing (unfavorable to local governments),” adding, “For autonomous districts with a high proportion of social welfare budgets, the financial role of the central government and Incheon City is important.”

The district plans to collect opinions from the top 10 cities, counties, and districts with a high proportion of social welfare expenses and propose policy improvements to the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Incheon City.