Gyeonggi Province Budget Impasse Brings Welfare and Employment Support Projects to a Standstill

Amid the 'Nuri curriculum conflict,' the delayed handling of Gyeonggi Province's budget bill this year has made disruptions to major provincial projects inevitable.

Projects in the health, welfare, and economic sectors—including youth single mother self-reliance support, childcare teacher job stress relief programs, veteran employment support, and support for disabled athletes' sports clubs—now face a complete halt.

According to Gyeonggi Province and the Provincial Assembly on the 14th, the province's 2024 budget bill failed to be processed on the last day of last year, and even at an extraordinary session convened two weeks later on the 13th, the main plenary session could not be opened due to the Nuri curriculum issue.

While ruling and opposition party leaders in the assembly agreed to set a new date for the extraordinary session, the differences in positions are so significant that it remains unclear whether the budget bill can be processed even if another session is held.

Concerns are growing not only about a childcare crisis but also about project disruptions due to prolonged temporary budget operations.

The more serious issue is that among projects that cannot be executed under the temporary budget system, many are critical initiatives requiring provincial budget support, such as assistance for people with disabilities, childcare teacher support, and youth unemployment assistance.

The province allocated 300 million won in this year's budget for its disabled athletes' sports club support program. This is personnel expenses for 11 disabled athletes competing in three sports: bowling, badminton, and table tennis.

Until last year, it was funded through the provincial sports promotion fund, but from this year it was reclassified as a new project after being transferred to the general account, preventing budget execution.

Under the temporary budget system, newly budgeted projects from the previous year, overseas travel expenses, and asset acquisition costs cannot be executed.

As a result, if the budget is not executed by the 20th when salaries are due, the 11 disabled athletes may face financial hardship.

Disability welfare projects classified as new initiatives this year—such as the disabled taxi driver training program (50 million won), visiting disabled life sports classes (390 million won), and the Deaf Elderly Center operations (443 million won)—are facing delays.

In the education sector, budget execution for Danwon High School graduates' university tuition support has become difficult.

The province allocated 700 million won in the regular budget for tuition support for 87 third-year students at Danwon High School, but this item was also excluded from temporary budget execution categories.

Additionally, the support project for 'Songpa Dormitory,' a military family dormitory located in Jangji-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, also faces inevitable delays.

The province plans to provide 60,000 won per month to 150 provincial university students using this facility to cover the difference between military family dormitory fees and regular rates; however, if the budget cannot be executed, the students will have to pay 60,000 won out of pocket each month.

In the economic sector, projects expected to face delays due to the budget impasse include veteran employment consulting (170 million won), mobile job bus services (300 million won), traditional market revitalization support (350 million won), and university student administrative internship programs (3.95 billion won).

In the health and welfare sector, budget execution has also been suspended for vulnerable population medical support (400 million won), youth single mother support (160 million won), comprehensive nursing service operation support (1.885 billion won), free mobile medical services (730 million won), and childcare teacher job stress relief program operations (50 million won).

The province has made a preliminary tally that 357 projects worth approximately 183.1 billion won have had budget execution suspended under the temporary budget system.

A provincial official stated, "If budget bill processing is delayed and the temporary budget is prolonged, people in need of provincial support in social welfare and healthcare sectors may suffer," adding, "We are considering an emergency execution plan for project budgets that the province has held back if a situation deemed urgent arises."