Are Wealthy Municipalities Stingy on Welfare Spending?

▲ Rep. Lee Ki-woo of the Open Our Party / Photo by Kim Jin-seok, photo@ytongsin.com

Welfare services quality is feared to decline as subsidiary budgets for senior community centers, elderly welfare facilities, and disabled welfare facilities—previously subsidized by the national government—were transferred to local governments this year, yet the budget secured by municipalities falls far short of actual required amounts.

According to state audit materials submitted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to the Open Our Party's Health and Welfare Committee, the total required budget for facility operation subsidies across all local governments is 1.4605 trillion won, but the budget compiled by municipalities totaled only 1.3474 trillion won.

Looking at budget securing rates by province and city, among all 16 provinces and cities, Incheon—ranked 3rd in financial independence—recorded the lowest budget securing rate at 82.6%, while Jeju Province, ranked 10th in financial independence, took first place.

In particular, municipalities with high fiscal independence such as Daejeon (74.4%), Daegu (73.2%), and Incheon (75.9%) showed lower welfare budget securing rates than other regions, indicating that the higher the financial independence, the lower the welfare budget securing rate.

Among the 16 provinces and cities, Gyeonggi Province—which has the second-highest financial independence—achieved only a 10th-place welfare budget securing rate among all provinces and cities.

In the case of Suwon, while the required budget is 12.3178 billion won, the secured budget amount is 10.7596 billion won, with a securing rate of only 87.3%.

In particular, 23 basic local governments fell short of securing 80% of required amounts.

Hwaseong City in Gyeonggi Province showed a budget securing rate of 37.3%, making it difficult to implement welfare projects, while Busan's Jung-gu (48.9%), Jindo County in South Jeolla Province (59.9%), and Damyang County in South Jeolla Province (70.0%) all fell to 70% or below.

Rep. Lee Ki-woo, secretary of the Open Our Party's Health and Welfare Committee, stated: "Special countermeasures are needed to resolve the welfare funding distribution gap between central and local governments and among local governments." He added: "If local governments take a passive stance in budget compilation, this will not only cause regional welfare disparities but also raise concerns about an overall deterioration in welfare service quality."