Jinju City Council's Special Committee on Budget and Accounts Compares Operating Practices at Gyeongsangnam-do and Busanjin-gu Councils

Discussing Ways to Improve the Operations of the Standing Special Committee on Budget and Accounts and Strengthen Review Expertise
Sharing Practices for Managing Budget Carryovers and Unused Funds and Following Up on Review Findings
Reviewing the Roles of Standing Committees and the Special Committee Ahead of the 2027 Budget Review

The Special Committee on Budget and Accounts of Jinju City Council in Gyeongsangnam-do visited the Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Council and Busanjin-gu Council in Busan Metropolitan City to improve the operating system of its standing committee and strengthen its expertise in reviewing budgets and settlements.

On November 3, the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts of Jinju City Council said it had visited the Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Council and Busanjin-gu Council in turn to learn about their examples of operating standing budget and accounts committees and conduct a comparative study aimed at improving the efficiency of budget and settlement reviews.

The visits were arranged to refine the committee's operating system and strengthen its fiscal review functions, from budget planning through execution and settlement, following Jinju City Council's establishment of a standing Special Committee on Budget and Accounts in August.

[Photo courtesy of Jinju City Council] Yoon Seong-gwan, chair of Jinju City Council's Budget and Accounts Special Committee, and other committee members pose for a commemorative photo after visiting the Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Council and sharing operational examples of budget and accounts special committees with Jin Sang-rak, chair of the council's committee, and other officials.

Busanjin-gu Council has operated a standing Special Committee on Budget and Accounts since the launch of its ninth council in 2022. The Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Council also supports budget and settlement reviews through its standing committee and its policy support officer system.

On the day, Jinju City Council's committee reviewed the operating arrangements of both councils and exchanged views on the division of responsibilities between preliminary reviews by standing committees and comprehensive reviews by the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts, as well as legislative support systems for strengthening review expertise.

They also discussed ways to scrutinize recurring budget carryovers, unused budget funds, and projects with low execution rates.

In addition, they shared operational practices for ensuring continuity in fiscal reviews, including follow-up management of issues raised during budget reviews and ways to check whether those issues are reflected in the following year's budget planning.

Yoon Seonggwan, chair of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts of Jinju City Council, sought views on operational approaches that would reduce overlapping reviews while allowing standing committees to conduct preliminary reviews and the special committee to conduct comprehensive reviews, each fulfilling its respective role. He also asked about support systems to underpin professional reviews.

In response, Jin Sangrak, chair of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts of the Gyeongsangnam-do Provincial Council, said that the special committee should respect the results of standing committees' preliminary reviews while conducting comprehensive and professional reviews of its own.

Kang Dohee, chair of the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts of Busanjin-gu Council, also said that continuity and expertise in review work are important when operating a standing committee, and expressed a willingness to continue sharing operational experience among councils.

Jinju City Council plans to draw on the practices identified during the comparative study in the special committee's future work and apply them to its review of the 2027 Jinju City budget proposal, scheduled for the second regular session.

Committee Chair Yoon said, "We will use the operational practices we examined during this comparative study to enhance the expertise of budget reviews," adding, "In reviewing the 2027 budget proposal, we will carefully examine the necessity of projects and their execution records."

Jinju City Council amended the relevant ordinance in August to establish the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts as a standing committee.

At the first regular session of its 276th meeting, the council also increased the committee's membership from 7 to 9 and conducted comprehensive reviews of the settlement for fiscal year 2025 and the first supplementary budget proposal for 2026.

Jinju City Council plans to consider ways to connect settlement results and budget execution status in its reviews, in addition to reviewing budget proposals, through the operation of the standing special committee.

The effectiveness of a standing Special Committee on Budget and Accounts depends not only on improving its operating methods but also on reducing recurring budget carryovers and unused funds, and on how fully the results of settlement reviews are reflected in the following year's budget planning.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.