The city of Pohang in North Gyeongsang Province is pursuing sweeping self-rescue measures — centered on municipal bond issuance and organizational restructuring — to secure sustainable administrative momentum as its fiscal conditions deteriorate.
The city held a press briefing Monday morning at the city hall briefing room, led by Park Jae-gwan, director general of the autonomous administration bureau, to announce its fiscal normalization and organizational restructuring plan.
"I am deeply sorry that the grave fiscal situation has caused concern for our citizens," Park said. "The city's finances have been pushed to the brink."
He added that mandatory and statutory expenditures — including welfare costs, personnel expenses and national and provincial government matching projects — have risen every year, while local tax revenue and non-tax income have stagnated, making it increasingly difficult to meet fiscal demands.
The city said it has already implemented aggressive spending cuts, including reductions in operational and administrative expenses. It will issue a minimum level of municipal bonds within the limits permitted by law and fiscal indicators to sustain essential projects directly tied to public safety, with plans to repay the debt on schedule.
Starting in 2027, when revenue conditions are expected to improve, the city plans to prioritize debt repayment and gradually reduce its reliance on municipal bonds, while normalizing its finances by eliminating unnecessary expenditures and identifying additional tax sources.
Alongside this, Pohang will carry out a sweeping organizational efficiency drive in line with the fiscal emergency.
Of the city's total authorized headcount of 2,343, a number are on leave or otherwise unavailable, limiting the operational workforce. The city has decided to concentrate personnel in core functions and front-line community service roles.
To that end, the city is reviewing plans to consolidate overlapping functions, establish new units dedicated to carrying out key campaign pledges, redeploy staff to neighborhood-level field positions, and reorganize divisions by separating large bureaus and merging smaller ones.
The restructuring will proceed in stages, beginning with a detailed assessment by a specialized institution, followed by finalization of the reorganization plan, revision of relevant ordinances and implementation in conjunction with regular personnel appointments.
"Together with the citizens who have rallied behind us in every moment of crisis, we will overcome this fiscal emergency as well through determined reform," Park said.
kbj7653@heraldcorp.com
