Osan City Confirms Next Year's Budget at 762.4 Billion Won

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Lee Su-won] Osan City's budget for next year has been confirmed at 762.4 billion won.

The city announced on the 26th that next year's budget has been finalized as Osan City Council approved and processed the 2024 general and special accounts revenue and expenditure budget at the 281st regular session, third plenary session.

Previously, the city placed emphasis on ▲administrative convenience and citizen safety and welfare ▲driving urban development through local economic activation ▲laying the groundwork for urban development for the 240,000 residents of Osan, and reflected numerous project funds for these initiatives in next year's budget proposal.

In particular, with economic slowdown expected, the Lee Kwon-jae administration in its eighth term of civilian government focused on cutting unnecessary and non-essential budgets while paying special attention to budgets directly affecting citizens' lives.

This aligns with the direction of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's fiscal policy of maintaining sound finances while strengthening welfare sectors, recognizing that citizens face mounting difficulties due to high inflation and high interest rates.

Mayor Lee Kwon-jae commented on the 2024 budget confirmation: "I am aware that citizens' lives have not been easy due to high interest rates and inflation from the post-COVID endemic era and various war-related issues," adding "In that regard, I made efforts to compile next year's budget with a focus on programs that can bring hope to the lives of our citizens."

□ Livelihood support for low-income and vulnerable groups carefully structured

The city allocated approximately 20.7 billion won for basic livelihood guarantee subsistence benefits to ensure minimum living standards. This resulted from the administration's identification of an increase in low-income vulnerable groups within the city, measures taken to ensure that citizens in welfare blind spots are not left behind.

Approximately 66.9 billion won was allocated for basic old-age pension support for seniors aged 65 and over. These budgets will receive additional national and provincial subsidies ranging from 70% to over 90%, with funds to be delivered to citizens in need.

The city also increased operational support funding for the Korean Senior Citizens Association's Osan branch to contribute to improving the quality of life for elderly residents.

□ Budget for job seekers and young married couples substantively reflected

A notable budget in next year's budget is the 98 million won allocated for establishing a national certification examination venue (Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry certification evaluation).

Previously, Mayor Lee Kwon-jae learned during a youth event in September that there were no national certification exam venues in Osan, forcing residents to travel to other areas. He then directed the vacant YouJobs Osan Station branch to serve as a national certification exam venue, and with this budget allocation, this will soon be realized.

Youth hair loss treatment support (50 million won), a service that young people have recently taken interest in, and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine inoculation (30 million won) to prevent cervical cancer and other conditions, expanded to include males, have also been reflected in the budget.

Additionally, parental allowances (approximately 20.1 billion won) and first-time enrollment assistance (100 million won), which are pledge items of the eighth term civilian government, have been included in next year's budget. These budgets are expected to not only provide support to parents with infants and young children but also contribute to improving the child birth rate.

Parental allowance is support provided for 24 months to children under 23 months of age. With this budget allocation, families with children 11 months or younger will receive increased support from 700,000 won to 1 million won per month, and those with children aged 12 to 23 months will receive increased support from 350,000 won to 500,000 won. First-time enrollment assistance provides one-time 100,000 won for enrollment preparation expenses to children resident in Osan who use a local childcare facility for the first time in their lives.

Additionally, for first-meeting vouchers, a project promoted by the national government as a matching business by local governments to improve birth rates, approximately 2.9 billion won has been allocated. For children born after January 1 next year, families will receive 2 million won for the first child and an increased 3 million won (100,000 won more than the previous 2 million won) from the second child onwards.

□ Focus on increasing administrative convenience... reflected with community center construction expenses

To enhance administrative convenience for citizens, the city allocated approximately 1 billion won to divide Daewon-dong and Sinjang-dong into Division 1 and 2 as of January 1, 2024.

Among pledge projects of the eighth term civilian government, 4.4 billion won was also reflected in next year's budget, including construction and management costs for the Namchon-dong complex municipal building (3.9 billion won) and basic design expenses for the Sinjang 2-dong Administrative Welfare Center (500 million won).

Notable budgets also include 1.25 billion won for the construction of the Busan-dong life and culture center (1.2 billion won) and parking lot expansion at the Workers' Comprehensive Welfare Center (50 million won). The eighth term Osan City administration has been actively working on parking lot expansion after identifying that facilities within the city are facing parking shortages.

□ Budgets for establishing a 500,000-resident self-sufficient connect city running smoothly

The city is fully preparing to proactively develop a 500,000-resident self-sufficient connect city Osan following the completion of the Segyo District 3 public housing complex as a candidate site.

A prime example is the revival of the Gyeongbu Line cross-town road, which had been at a standstill for eight years. Budget of 600 million won allocated for design value engineering and landscape design for the project has been reflected in next year's budget. Land compensation expenses of 6 billion won for the Jigot-dong urban planning road opening project were also included.

Multiple budgets totaling 1.84 billion won for representative priority projects that Mayor Lee Kwon-jae of the eighth term civilian government is promoting for economic self-sufficient city Osan development have been reflected.

The budget will be used for feasibility studies and development zone designation for the Osan Reserve Forces Training Ground development plan, project expenses for development planning (1 billion won), basic design for facility improvements including platform extension for Osan Station for KTX originating from Suwon (600 million won), and administrative safety ministry feasibility study fees for activating the Segyo District 1 terminal site (240 million won).

A budget of approximately 5 billion won for expanding the introduction of low-floor buses for transportation-disadvantaged groups has also been included in next year's budget.