Anseong City: "2026 Budget Significantly Cut...Concerns Over Citizen Impact and Regional Development"

[Suwon Ilbo=Park Chan-hyuk] Anseong City expressed serious concerns on the 31st regarding the massive 18.7 billion won budget cut deliberated by the Anseong City Council for 2026, stating it is a decision that could shake not only projects directly connected to citizens' lives but also the overall stability of city administration.

This cut is not limited to specific projects or certain sectors, but encompasses both general and special accounts, of which 238 projects accounting for 82% of the cut, approximately 8.2 billion won, were completely eliminated, bringing project implementation to a halt.

First, projects premised on national and provincial matching funds were included in the budget cuts. A total of 3.7 billion won was cut, including 2.5 billion won for the Seungdu Stream ecological restoration project, 600 million won for the Anseong Cultural Complex Space Creation project, and 400 million won for the Korea Cultural City Creation project, causing disruptions in project implementation.

Additionally, budget allocated for government PR related to citizens' right to information was entirely cut, including the handbook on new policy changes released since 2001 and government PR budgets utilizing SNS.

In particular, for water supply infrastructure installation projects, 4.4 billion won across 8 projects was cut regardless of general or special accounts. This includes large-scale cuts to base facility projects such as expanding water supply facilities in water shortage-prone areas, maintenance of aging water mains, water supply basic planning, construction of the new Songcheon 2 Pressure Booster Station, replacement of water pipes in aging residences, and facility improvement of the Gurye Pressure Booster Station, signaling a warning light for smooth water administration.

In the community sector, capacity building education for citizen participation committees and pilot rural community apartments and civic activity promotion projects implemented by the Citizen Activity Integrated Support Division were cut, and 13 projects in the citizen participation budget sector were also cut, making project implementation difficult.

Additionally, the 3 billion won expansion project for the Rural Revitalization Plus Processing Center was cut, putting the construction of infrastructure for increasing income of local farmers on complete hold, and budget for policy implementation work for resident communication, municipal administration, and external cooperation was also cut.

For illegal parking unmanned monitoring camera installation, approximately 1.8 billion won was requested across general and special accounts, but approximately 50% was cut, creating constraints in policy implementation across livelihood, administration, and safety sectors.

Meanwhile, the city also noted that this budget cut is not limited to a single year but has been repeated in recent years. Since 2022, substantial cuts have continued in the budget deliberation process each year, undermining the stability of municipal administration and the continuity of projects.

In particular, given that large-scale cuts were implemented at a point when 2026 is not far away, the city emphasized that there could be increased burden on implementation schedules and overall administrative preparation for projects requiring immediate execution at the beginning of the year.

A city official stated, "Above all, this cut is a decision that does not consider Anseong citizens, who are the owners of the city, and regional development, and we are concerned that the damage from this may fall on citizens," and added, "We will prepare administrative alternatives for essential projects directly connected to citizens' lives and actively review possible measures such as supplementary budgets."