Choo Mi-ae, the Gyeonggi Province governor who declared a "fiscal emergency," this time called for structural reform of personnel costs for national firefighters.
On the 8th, Gyeonggi Province Gov. Choo Mi-ae said on her Facebook page that "Gyeonggi Province is shouldering most of the personnel costs for national firefighters."
Choo said, "Personnel costs for national positions are the central government's responsibility, but the reality is the exact opposite," adding, "Fiscal reform is urgent for locally led growth," as she made the demand.
Choo said that over the 10 years preparing for the nationalization of the fire service, the number of firefighting civil servants in Gyeonggi Province increased 1.4 times and personnel costs 1.8 times, but the province is covering most of the budget. Of roughly 1.1 trillion won in personnel costs for national firefighters, central government support amounts to only 80 billion won.
Choo said, "Personnel costs for national positions are the central government's responsibility," adding, "But the reality is the exact opposite."
She added, "It is time to reform the structure under which we are effectively paying more than 1 trillion won in national civil servant personnel costs on their behalf."
She also said the recent fiscal situation in Gyeonggi Province is due to the lack of central government support. She noted, "Even if Gyeonggi Province's finances spring a leak, the central government has set it up so that it does not provide local allocation tax, so even if the fiscal dike collapses, we cannot fill the gap," emphasizing, "Fiscal reform and revenue-structure reform are urgent."
Earlier, Choo declared a "fiscal emergency" over Gyeonggi Province's finances and said a 770 billion won cut in the supplementary budget was unavoidable.