Bupyeong District Council Member Kim Dong-min: "100 Billion Won of Tax Money for Self-Support Projects, No More Excuses of Tradition"

Voices criticizing the poor accounting management and service discipline of the self-support project, which has an annual budget of 10 billion won, have emerged from the Incheon Bupyeong District Council. In particular, there were strong demands for administrative reform due to the neglect of legal compliance under the pretext of a 'tradition' that has continued for several years.

During the 4th Administrative Welfare Committee meeting of the 274th Bupyeong District Council held on the 2nd, Council Member Kim Dong-min (Democratic Party·Bupyeong 2, 5, 6-dong, Bugae 1-dong, Ilshin-dong) focused on the overall accounting transparency and supervision system of the district in the major business report targeting the Social Security and Welfare Policy Departments.

In his inquiry to the Social Security Department, Kim stated, "The issues raised in last year's administrative audit regarding the lease contract problems, fragmented contracts, and the absence of task instructions indicate that the accounting issues at the self-support center are at a serious level," and emphasized, "Excuses like 'I didn't know' or 'it was a tradition' can no longer be tolerated in projects funded by the precious taxes of the people."

In response, the district announced plans to conduct separate guidance inspections starting this week based on the results of the specific audit conducted jointly by the auditor and the relevant departments until the 23rd of last month. The head of the Social Security Department replied, "If the specific audit focused on clarifying the allegations raised, the guidance inspection starting tomorrow will serve as an opportunity to closely examine the overall accounting and management of donations that have not been verified over the past year."

Following this, Council Member Kim criticized the delay in post-action regarding the management of personal accounts for profits of the Community Security Council directed at the Welfare Policy Department. He pointed out, "It has been two months since we agreed to report in writing on strengthening guidance and supervision measures, but there is still no concrete roadmap in sight."

The head of the Welfare Policy Department explained, "To prevent similar cases, we have already sent official documents four times to 22 districts," and added, "We will conduct a comprehensive field monitoring this month and provide consulting, including financial and accounting practical training for private chairpersons in March."

Council Member Kim Dong-min stated, "Intensive audits by the department are necessary to ensure that the budget is used for participants in self-support to fully achieve independence," and urged, "Please report the improvement measures for the issues raised in writing as soon as possible."