Osan City to Strengthen Controls on Lax Management of Personnel, Organization, Finances, and Projects

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Jung Jun-sung] Osan City has decided to undertake intensive personnel restructuring and organizational reforms to efficiently implement the 8th popular-elected administration's promises and policy projects.

Additionally, the city has decided to implement strong fiscal restructuring measures, including halting and reviewing unnecessary projects that had been pursued carelessly, as well as devising plans to increase revenues.

Mayor Lee Gwon-jae of Osan City held a press conference on the 21st outlining these matters and expressed strong determination.

At the press conference, the mayor stated, "Due to the city's geopolitical and economic structure, expansion of self-funded revenues such as local taxes and non-tax income has been insufficient." He continued, "Despite the city's financial structure being dependent on superior revenues from state and provincial budgets and treasury transfers, careless financial management that failed to look ahead has led to projections that important policy projects, including the 8th popular-elected administration's pledges, will be delayed across the board."

The mayor further stated, "During the transition from the 6th to the 7th popular-elected administration, long-term ongoing projects, including various facility projects in tourism, welfare, and education sectors, were pursued without proper analysis of revenues and expenditures, with fixed costs such as personnel expenses and maintenance fees continuously allocated. This resulted in new investments, increased private outsourcing costs, and rising welfare expenses, as well as increased subsidy support for public organizations and private groups, which has become a major factor pressuring the city's finances across all fronts and must be improved."

The mayor particularly emphasized, "If the city's fiscal structure continues as is, by 2026 available resources could reach a negative state, presenting a serious fiscal crisis. A comprehensive zero-based review of all municipal affairs is necessary to boldly reorganize unnecessary projects and various patronage-oriented budgets."

The mayor continued, "Without complete restructuring of 13 large investment projects (total project cost of 372 billion won) that were shelved due to budget shortages from the 7th popular-elected administration's implementation plan, it will be difficult to allocate budget to the 8th popular-elected administration's pledged projects. Therefore, the city is presenting several improvement measures for major expenditure restructuring as a way to share the burden of suffering with citizens facing the people's economic crisis and to lay the foundation for 100 years of joint progress with citizens."

As the first measure, the mayor emphasized consolidation of overlapping tasks and functions through comprehensive analysis including organizational diagnosis of public and private outsourcing organizations and project performance evaluations, accompanied by corresponding organizational reforms, project reforms, and ordinance revisions.

As the second measure, the city will consolidate large festivals and cultural events, expand cultural performances that reach out to citizens as the main participants. Third, through analysis of the appropriateness of subsidy support for private organizations and various welfare costs, the city will halt patronage-oriented and indiscriminate handout-style support.

Additionally, the city announced plans to implement intensive personnel adjustments and organizational reforms based on reassignment of personnel and consolidation of segmented organizations to completely overhaul inefficient aspects of internal civil service personnel.

At the same time, for efficient fiscal management in the 8th popular-elected administration, the city will lead efforts to move away from dependence on current tax revenues and seek new revenue sources. The city will also achieve stable revenue increases through effective management of shared assets via multiple utilization methods, and attraction of large enterprises and large shopping malls, as well as large-scale public land development.

Mayor Lee Gwon-jae stated, "Through priority analysis of previously shelved projects and the 8th popular-elected administration's pledged projects, we will make efficient choices and focus on budget allocation. Simultaneously, we will fundamentally block unnecessary budget cuts and wasteful spending while actively seeking revenue enhancement measures, laying the groundwork for a healthy 100-year vision for Osan City that achieves stability and growth based on sound finances."