Yongin Mayor Lee Sang-il Requests Government Support for "Special City Special Act" from Ministry of Public Administration

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Choi Gi-ho] On the 9th afternoon, Yongin Special City Mayor Lee Sang-il met with Deputy Minister Ko Gi-dong of the Ministry of Public Administration, who visited Yongin, and urged him to actively support the urgent enactment of the "Special City Support Special Act," stating that in order for special cities with over 1 million residents to provide diverse administrative services fitting their scale to citizens, such legislation must be promptly established.

The mayor also pointed out that Yongin has the highest ratio among special cities with 332 residents per civil servant, and that the allocation of civil servants relative to population is set low, causing considerable difficulties in delivering satisfactory administrative services. He requested that the baseline number of civil servants and baseline personnel costs for the city be adjusted upward.

Deputy Minister Ko's visit to Yongin today was related to President Yoon Suk-yeol's remarks at the 23rd Civil Life Dialogue held at Yongin City Hall in March, where he announced that the government would enact the "Special City Support Special Act" and expand authority so that special cities can conduct proper special city administration. The visit was made as an on-site inspection for the legislative preparation.

Mayor Lee and city officials met Deputy Minister Ko at Yongin Youth LAB within Suji Resperia, which provides a panoramic view of Giheung-gu and Suji-gu, and explained through a briefing that among 595 apartment complexes in Yongin, 414 complexes—accounting for 70%—have been standing for over 15 years and are included as candidates for remodeling projects.

A city official stated, "According to Articles 71-73 of the Housing Act, in order for the city's remodeling master plan to be announced, it must go through the city's urban planning deliberation committee and then receive approval from the Gyeonggi Province governor, but the provincial procedures are not progressing swiftly, causing significant difficulties." The official added, "To solve such problems, the enactment of a special city special act is necessary."

The current deliberation procedures of the province—including review by Gyeonggi Province's urban planning committee, consultation with remodeling specialist committees, and review by joint (architecture and landscape) committees—overlap with the city's deliberation and consume considerable time. Therefore, emphasis was placed on transferring the province's authority to the special city.

Since 2019, Yongin has had 13 complexes establish remodeling housing cooperatives and proceed with projects, but to date, not a single project has been approved by Gyeonggi Province.

Deputy Minister Ko stated, "I visited to directly verify the necessity of securing special city authority, which is an urgent challenge for rapidly growing Yongin, and I appreciate your welcome." He added, "After hearing explanations on-site, the urgency of remodeling projects becomes clear to me. I will make active efforts to help solve the issue of securing special city authority, including simplifying the remodeling master plan establishment procedure."

In addition, Mayor Lee requested from Deputy Minister Ko an upward adjustment of the city's baseline number of civil servants and baseline personnel costs to strengthen local autonomy authority, and further requested the expansion of targets for long-term education and training for grade 4, 5, and 6 civil servants (expanding grade 4 and 5 training from the current 1 person to 2 people; grade 6 women's leadership education from the current 0 to 1 person; and grade 6 internal long-term training from the current 27 to 30 people).

Mayor Lee also raised the issue that a significant number of local government civil servants are deployed to election affairs during nationwide elections, leading to increased burdens and a phenomenon of avoidance, and emphasized that solutions should be reviewed. He submitted relevant materials to Deputy Minister Ko.

Following his meeting with Mayor Lee, Deputy Minister Ko moved to Yongin City Hall and met with tax-related civil servants to encourage staff members handling numerous civil complaints related to personal local income tax filing work and listened to difficulties regarding the next-generation tax revenue information system.

Deputy Minister Ko stated, "I arranged this meeting to encourage tax-related civil servants working hard in the field on local tax revenue duties." He added, "We will make our best efforts to help tax-related civil servants with their work so that system stabilization can be achieved promptly and citizens can conveniently pay local taxes."