Seoul district mayors push for improved national-city subsidy ratio for senior employment

The Seoul District Mayors' Council held its 204th regular meeting Wednesday at the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Planning Situation Room to discuss key issues facing the city's autonomous districts and coordinate joint responses.

The joint session with the Seoul Metropolitan Government was attended by First Vice Mayor Jeong Sang-hun, serving as acting mayor, along with senior city officials and district mayors from across Seoul. Participants discussed improving the national-city subsidy ratio for senior employment programs — a measure approved at the August regular meeting — and heard the city's request for cooperation on supporting the 2027 World Youth Day.

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon also attended the joint session, the first of its kind in the first year of the ninth directly elected term, and exchanged greetings with the district mayors.

The council then held its own separate meeting to deliberate and vote on agenda items closely tied to residents' daily lives. Key items included measures to improve community bus route operations, a proposal urging compliance with the payment deadline for shared property tax transfers, and support for extending contracts for national and public childcare centers in apartment complex management buildings.

The council agreed to submit proposals to the central government or the Seoul Metropolitan Government on matters requiring institutional reform, including amendments to relevant laws.

Council Chairman Lee Seung-ro said the 204th regular meeting "was a meaningful occasion to further strengthen communication and solidarity between the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the autonomous districts, as well as among the districts themselves," adding that the council "will continue to gather voices from the field to bring about tangible administrative change and advance local autonomy in ways that Seoul residents can feel."