Suwon Appoints Members of Fifth Citizen Participatory Budget Committee

[Suwon Ilbo=Correspondent Seo Dong-young] The fifth-term members of the Suwon Citizen Participatory Budget Committee have taken their first steps.

On the 17th, the city delivered letters of appointment to 60 citizen participatory budget committee members at the "Fifth-Term Member Inauguration Ceremony of the Suwon Citizen Participatory Budget Committee" held at City Hall.

The fifth-term citizen participatory budget committee comprises a total of 60 members: 28 new members, 16 returning members, and 16 members recommended by districts.

Over the next two years, they will participate in reviewing and selecting projects proposed by residents, promoting and educating citizens about the participatory budget system, and various policy decision-making processes related to budget planning.

The members directly elected the fifth-term committee chair and vice chair, as well as executives for four subcommittees: general administration, culture and welfare, urban environment, and construction and development.

Previously, the city conducted public recruitment and recommendations for the fifth-term members in October of last year, selecting 183 candidates for city and district citizen participatory budget committee members.

Subsequently, the city finalized the selection of 60 city members and 141 district members (appointed separately by each district: 39 from Jangan, 37 from Gwonseon, 32 from Paldal, and 33 from Yeongtong) as committee members.

This year, the city has unveiled a "refresh" that substantially improves the citizen participatory budget operation system with the goal of realizing substantive local autonomy and citizen self-governance. The city plans to further expand direct citizen participation.

Key improvement measures include: ▲"Operating the citizen participatory budget ceiling system" to integrate projects funded by resident tax increases into the participatory budget, thereby eliminating waste of budget and administrative resources ▲Subdividing citizen participatory budget project types (city-level participation, district-level participation, and neighborhood-level autonomous planning) ▲Implementing pilot operations of neighborhood-level autonomous planning-type citizen participatory budgets in connection with autonomous neighborhood council pilot districts.

Jo In-sang, Director of the City Planning and Coordination Office, said, "This year, we will more efficiently promote the citizen participatory budget system to realize an era of citizen self-governance," and urged the members to "do their best to ensure that citizen opinions are actively reflected in the city's budget planning."