Suwon Selected as 'Excellent Local Government' in Resident Participation Budget System Evaluation

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Suwon City announced on the 17th that it has been selected as an excellent local government in the Ministry of Interior and Safety's "2020 National Local Government Resident Participation Budget System Operation Evaluation."

The Ministry of Interior and Safety conducts evaluations by dividing nationwide metropolitan and basic local governments into five groups to promote activation of the resident participation budget system and disseminate excellent cases across the nation.

Suwon City, selected for excellence in the "City" group this year, will receive a commendation from the Minister of Interior and Safety and financial incentives of 120 million won (special education transfer tax).

To balance resource allocation and make careful project selection, the city has operated a "resident participation budget total ceiling system" since this year, in which each project is assigned its own priority within the budget ceiling limit and resident participation budget projects are reflected accordingly.

Additionally, the city subdivided resident participation budget project types into municipal participation, district-level participation, and dong-unit autonomous planning types, thereby discovering diverse projects that can preserve regional characteristics and strengthen village communities.

In particular, the city expanded direct resident participation by pilot operating "dong-unit autonomous planning resident participation budget projects" in connection with resident autonomous council pilot neighborhoods.

Resident autonomous councils discovered and reviewed proposed resident participation budget projects, and helped residents independently determine village projects through processes such as resident voting and general resident assemblies.

A city official stated, "This award is a precious result made possible by residents' active interest in and commitment to the resident participation budget system despite financial crisis and COVID-19 challenges," and added, "We will continue to listen more carefully to citizens' voices and prepare various measures to realize practical decentralization of autonomy and resident self-governance."

Meanwhile, the city was selected as an "excellent local government" in the 2017 resident participation budget system evaluation and as an "outstanding local government" in 2018.