Ulsan's supplementary budget finalized at 6.11 trillion won

City budget cut by 3.68 billion won, education office by 16.19 billion won

Some cuts restored, easing tensions

The Ulsan City Council's Budget and Accounts Special Committee reviews the third supplementary budget proposal of the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education on Tuesday, with Deputy Superintendent Gu Yeon-hui and other officials in attendance. [Provided by Ulsan City Council]
The Ulsan City Council's Budget and Accounts Special Committee reviews the third supplementary budget proposal of the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education on Tuesday, with Deputy Superintendent Gu Yeon-hui and other officials in attendance. [Provided by Ulsan City Council]

A dispute between the Ulsan city government and the city council over budget cuts during the first supplementary budget review of the ninth elected administration was resolved Wednesday, when the council voted at its second plenary session to restore some of the previously cut funds.

The conflict had spilled into public view on Friday, when Ulsan Mayor Kim Sang-uk and city council Speaker Lee Yeong-hae held back-to-back news conferences after the preliminary budget review concluded. "If policies and budgets for citizens keep failing to clear the council's threshold, city administration will ultimately grind to a halt," Kim said. Lee countered that "pushing ahead with projects simply because they are the mayor's campaign pledges, without sufficient review of institutional grounds and accountability frameworks, is an act of disregarding the council."

At Wednesday's plenary session, the council finalized the city's third supplementary budget for 2026 at 6.11 trillion won ($4.52 billion), an increase of 126.4 billion won over the base budget. The general account rose by 124.1 billion won to 5.1 trillion won, while the special account increased by 2.3 billion won to 1.01 trillion won.

The council voted to restore two line items that standing committees had cut entirely during preliminary review on procedural grounds: 122.2 million won for the "120 Ulsan Civil Affairs Center upgrade project" — the first project personally approved by Mayor Kim Sang-uk — and 31.09 million won for Seoul office staffing costs. With those restorations, the final net cut across the general and special accounts came to 3.68 billion won, down from the 13.36 billion won the city had originally requested.

The main cuts in the general account were 850 million won for underground utility work on school commuter routes near Samho Elementary School, 689.25 million won for operation of a Sunflower Center, and 500 million won in support for aging residential area improvements in the Mugeo district. In the special account, 1.2 billion won for raw water procurement costs at the Hoeya and Cheonsang water purification plants was also cut.

Alongside this, the council approved the settlement of accounts and emergency reserve expenditures for the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education for fiscal year 2025, the third supplementary budget for the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education's special education account for 2026, and a revised fund management plan for the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education for 2026.

For the education office's third supplementary budget for 2026, the council cut 16.19 billion won across 12 line items it deemed non-essential, out of the 37.84 billion won the education office had requested.

The main cuts were 12.74 billion won for land acquisition for the Ulsan Student Safety Experience Education Center, 1.96 billion won for public relations materials and communications support out of a total 2.18 billion won trust-restoration project, and 865 million won for digital education operations. Three items cut during the education committee's preliminary review were restored: 636 million won for LED display installation at an education training center, 5.62 million won for an education community network program, and 4 million won for a children's health bus program.


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