According to the National Assembly Research Service, the current financial self-sufficiency rate of Uijeongbu City is 19.4%, and the financial autonomy rate is 42.5%, which are at the lowest level nationwide. In particular, the proportion of national and provincial subsidies accounts for more than half (52.7%) of total tax revenue, resulting in a very high dependence on external funds.
On the other hand, the city's financial burden is increasing like a snowball every year. This year, the increase in local taxes amounted to 1.2 billion won, while the matching fund burden for national and provincial projects soared by more than 15 times to 18.4 billion won. With fixed costs such as light rail operation expenses and bus public-private partnership contributions accounting for 70.8% of this year's total, available funds that can be invested in new projects have virtually dried up.
The future financial outlook is even bleaker. According to the National Assembly Research Service's financial projections, there is already a shortage of 13 billion won in funds only in the second half of this year. If we add the principal repayment of local bonds worth 1.1 trillion won and the share of construction costs for the Dobongsan~Okjeong Metropolitan Railway, the funding shortfall is expected to reach 484 billion won in 2027 and 580 billion won in 2028.
Yesterday, news like this came out from Gyeonggi Province and Daejeon... It's a mess everywhere.
