Mayor Choi: "Eight Overlapping Regulations, Plus Fiscal Burden"... Urges National Assembly to Improve the System

Namyangju Meets with Three Lawmakers, Urges Legal Amendments
Calls for Easing Standards for Farm-Work Convenience Facilities
“Local Allocation Tax Equivalent to 19.24% Must Be Guaranteed First”
Seeks Reassignment from Tier 1 to Tier 3 of the Local Preferential Index
Mayor Choi: “Ease Farmland Regulations and Give Local Finances Room to Breathe”

Namyangju City in Gyeonggi Province is moving to improve regulations by appealing to the National Assembly, seeking to ease unreasonable restrictions on agricultural work and reduce the burden on local finances. Its key requests are to relax standards for installing farm-work convenience facilities in development-restricted zones and prevent local allocation tax revenues from falling as a result of the government's creation of a Future Response Fund.

Namyangju Mayor Choi Hyun-deok (right) visits the National Assembly on the 5th and presents a policy proposal calling for easing farmland regulations and preventing cuts to local allocation tax to Kim Seong-beom, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker on the Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee. Provided by Namyangju City.

On Nov. 5, Namyangju Mayor Choi Hyundeok visited the National Assembly and met in succession with Democratic Party lawmakers Kim Seongbeom, Shin Jeonghun and Kim Younghwan, delivering policy proposals calling for eased farmland regulations and improvements to the local finance system.

The visit was a follow-up measure aimed at resolving farmland regulation and local finance issues that Namyangju City has raised with the government and the National Assembly.

Previously, Mayor Choi sent letters to 19 members of the National Assembly's Agriculture, Food, Rural Affairs, Oceans and Fisheries Committee requesting improvements to the farmland system. He also raised the issue of declining local allocation tax revenues due to the creation of the Future Response Fund at a National Assembly seminar.

That day, Mayor Choi met with Rep. Kim Seongbeom and requested that standards for installing farm-work convenience facilities and auxiliary facilities for hands-on and therapeutic farms in development-restricted zones be relaxed.

Although a revised Farmland Act that took effect in August recognized sites for farm-work convenience facilities, such as restrooms and parking lots, as farmland, farmers are experiencing difficulties because there is no clear legal basis for installing these facilities in development-restricted zones.

He also proposed suspending orders to dispose of farmland and the imposition of enforcement fines for farmland slated for expropriation for public projects, and not applying stricter disposal standards to farmland owned by Korean nationals that is not actually subject to land transaction permits.

Local finance issues were also a major agenda item.

Mayor Choi asked Reps. Shin Jeonghun and Kim Younghwan to prevent a decline in ordinary local allocation tax revenues following the creation of the Future Response Fund, improve the criteria for calculating the Local Preferential Index, and expand national support for long-term care benefits for older adults.

Namyangju Mayor Choi Hyundeok (right) visits the National Assembly on the 5th and presents Rep. Shin Jeonghoon of the Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee with a policy proposal calling for eased farmland regulations and measures to prevent cuts to local government grants. Provided by Namyangju City.

The Future Response Fund, which the government is pursuing alongside its 2027 budget proposal, will be established by first deducting the amount allocated to the fund from domestic tax revenues and then calculating local allocation tax. This has raised concerns that the funding distributed to local governments could decrease.

Mayor Choi stressed that, to ensure the stability of local finances, the government should first guarantee local allocation tax equivalent to 19.24% of domestic tax revenues and allow local governments to participate in operating the fund.

He also called for improvements to the criteria used to calculate the Local Preferential Index, which determines the level of government support.

Namyangju City is subject to eight overlapping regulations, and as of 2023, its gross regional domestic product (GRDP) per capita ranked 30th among Gyeonggi Province's 31 cities and counties. Citing these regional conditions, Mayor Choi argued that Namyangju should be reassigned from the current Tier 1 to Tier 3 of the Local Preferential Index.

He also called for expanded national support to address the rapidly growing burden of long-term care benefits for older adults.

Namyangju City's budget for long-term care benefits rose from KRW 51.4 billion in 2024 to KRW 75.5 billion this year, an increase of about 47% in two years. Mayor Choi proposed either reclassifying long-term care benefits for Medical Aid recipients as a national government responsibility or having the national government cover at least 80% of the related costs.

Namyangju Mayor Choi Hyundeok (right) visited the National Assembly on the 5th and handed a policy proposal to Rep. Kim Younghwan of the Finance and Economy Planning Committee. The proposal calls for easing farmland regulations and preventing cuts to local government grants. Photo courtesy of Namyangju City.

Mayor Choi Hyundeok said, "The difficulties faced by people working in agriculture and the burden on local finances are structural problems that individual local governments cannot resolve through their own efforts alone. We will continue discussions with the National Assembly to ensure these proposals are reflected in relevant legal amendments and system improvements."

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