The Local Finance Mutual Aid Association and Rep. Park Jeong-hyun jointly hosted a seminar on the 29th at the National Assembly Members' Office regarding 'Measures to Secure Local Financial Soundness and Vitalize Local Legislation.' Related experts, including the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, participated in the session, discussing ways to diversify local finances.
Experts attending the seminar pointed out the need to diversify non-local revenue sources for the sustainability of local finances. Lee In-jae, Senior Director of the Korean Ordinance Society, assessed that local autonomy currently remains in a formal decentralization stage of central government service delivery, noting that local self-generated revenue accounts for only 39%. He urged efforts to discover niche revenue sources by implementing independent financial ordinances that reflect local geographical and industrial characteristics under current laws.
Additionally, Professor Lee Han-kyu of Hankyong National University presented ways to diversify financial resources through the utilization of local government shared property, focusing on the case of Uijeongbu City. He proposed organizing small, underutilized plots of land and creating stable rental income through complex consignment development using the proceeds from asset sales.
