Gyeonggi Province Allocates Only 9 Months of Civil Servant Payroll in 2027 Budget

Facing financial difficulties, Gyeonggi Province has decided to allocate only 9 months of payroll for provincial government civil servants in the 2027 main budget to prioritize securing emergency livelihood project funds.

According to Gyeonggi Province and the three labor unions at the provincial government (Gyeonggi Province Government Civil Servants Union, Korean Government Employees Union Gyeonggi Province Government Chapter, and Gyeonggi Province Integrated Civil Servants Union) on the 12th, Governor Choo Mi-ae explained the direction of next year's budget at a labor union meeting held the previous day and requested understanding and cooperation.

Governor Choo stated that in a situation where available financial resources have dramatically declined, she decided to prioritize only 9 months of payroll for provincial government civil servants to primarily cover livelihood project expenses directly linked to residents' lives. The 3-month payroll for October through December next year that will be excluded from the main budget amounts to approximately 90 billion won.

The civil servant payroll reduction applies only to employees of the provincial government headquarters. Firefighters, who recently became the subject of controversy over local government financial burden and expanded national funding support, and staff of the Gyeonggi Provincial Assembly were excluded from the reduction targets, with their payroll fully allocated as normal. The aim is to maintain morale among front-line safety personnel and prevent safety gaps in residents' everyday lives.

In lieu of temporarily reducing payroll, the province decided to maintain current levels of employee welfare project budgets including health checkup expenses and welfare points. A spokesperson for the provincial government labor unions stated, "Governor Choo promised full payroll allocation through a supplementary budget, and the unions also did not raise any objections from a broader perspective of overcoming the livelihood crisis."

Gyeonggi Province's available financial resources for next year amount to 1.65 trillion won, a dramatic decline of approximately 2 trillion won compared to this year. The province will officially submit the budget proposal to the Provincial Assembly on the 13th, two days after the legal submission deadline of November 11th, as it coordinates municipal bond issuance and various fund borrowing measures until the last minute.

Gyeonggi Province Spokesman Hong Eun-kwang issued a statement saying, "Allocating only 9 months of civil servant payroll is a desperate decision to protect residents' lives in a fiscal crisis situation and a 'livelihood-focused' budget that prioritizes life, safety, and vulnerable population budgets." He continued, "We plan to secure maximum available resources through fund reserves, municipal bond issuance, and expenditure restructuring, concentrate them on livelihood budgets, and reflect the unallocated payroll in the first supplementary budget next year through local tax system reform and securing national funding."

Meanwhile, Sejong Special Self-Governing City, which has also activated its revenue shortage warning light, plans to exclude 3 months of civil servant payroll from next year's main budget and secure it through a supplementary budget. This trend of 'prioritizing livelihood and allocating payroll through supplementary budgets' is spreading across local government entities in general.