City to merge festivals, consolidate service contracts
51.1 billion won figure reflects multi-year cumulative estimate
Savings to be allocated after budget review
Changwon has identified 68 routine and unnecessary projects for elimination, aiming to cut 4.8 billion won ($3.57 million) from next year's main budget. The city has set a longer-term goal of saving a cumulative 51.1 billion won, though it has yet to decide where the freed-up funds will go.
Mayor Kang Ki-yoon chaired a review session Monday at the city hall's third conference room to discuss internal fiscal efficiency measures, the city announced Tuesday.
The 51.1 billion won figure is not a single-year saving. It represents a multi-year cumulative estimate spanning the 4.8 billion won targeted for next year, the remainder of Mayor Kang's term, and the duration of ongoing projects beyond that.
The main targets are overlapping festivals and habitual recurring expenditures. The city will merge the Changwon Lifelong Learning Science Festival and the Changwon Book Festa to reduce event costs. A tree-planting initiative that has already reached its goal of 20 million trees will shift from new planting to an aftercare management system.
The city also plans to stop paying membership fees to international organizations it deems ineffective, consolidate overlapping research contracts across departments, and move large in-person staff meetings online.
However, the city's stated goal of reinvesting the savings into public welfare programs lacks a concrete implementation plan. "This review session is a preliminary step to identify budget waste across departments and secure funding," a city official said. "We plan to decide which welfare areas will receive priority through a budget committee review."
Mayor Kang urged city departments to "boldly eliminate budget waste such as duplicate service contracts across departments," adding that the city would "cut unnecessary spending while concentrating fiscal resources on essential priorities, including resident welfare and the recovery of the local economy."
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