‘People’s livelihood budget’ first… Gyeonggi Province plans only 9 months' worth of labor costs for next year's headquarters

Gyeonggi Province, which is experiencing serious financial difficulties, will allocate only nine months' worth of labor costs for government officials in next year's main budget.

According to the three labor unions of the Gyeonggi Provincial Office on the 12th, Governor Choo Mi-ae revealed this plan and asked for understanding at a union meeting the previous day.

Governor Chu explained that only nine months' worth of civil servant labor costs will be reflected in next year's main budget to cover urgent business expenses for people's livelihood. The target group is government officials at the main office, and provincial council and fire officials are excluded.

Labor costs for three months from October to December next year are approximately 90 billion won, which the province plans to secure through the supplementary budget.

Instead of reducing labor costs, it was decided to maintain employee welfare expenses, such as health checkup fees and welfare points, at this year's level.

An official from the Provincial Office union said, “Governor Chu explained that tax revenues will increase next year, including expanded government funding for firefighting labor costs, and promised to reflect three months’ worth of labor costs in the supplementary budget,” and added, “None of the unions objected to Governor Chu’s explanation.”

Gyeonggi Province plans to submit next year's main budget to the Provincial Council on the 13th.

This is two days beyond the legal deadline (November 11). It has been reported that the budget preparation has been delayed due to the last-minute coordination of local bond issuance and fund borrowing plans as available resources for next year are 1.65 trillion won, which is about 2 trillion won less than this year.

Meanwhile, Sejong City, which is in a similar position to Gyeonggi-do, prepared next year's main budget plan without reflecting three months' worth of civil servant labor costs in next year's main budget, and also decided to secure the corresponding labor costs through next year's supplementary budget.