Government reform plans made final

In a bid to streamline the government and establish a two-tier government system, the Executive Yuan is scheduled to approve draft amendments to the Law on Local Government Systems (地方制度法) today.

According to Minister without Portfolio Yeh Jiunn-rong (葉俊榮), who has finished reviewing the proposal presented by the Ministry of the Interior, the reform of local government systems is a complicated issue and needs addressed carefully stage by stage.

"We're thinking of reaching the ultimate goal in two stages," he said. "The first stage is to unify the status of cities and counties."

Regarding the more complicated issue of adjusting local governments' obligations and rights, Yeh said that the Presidential Office's Government Reform Commission is taking care of the matter.

"We'll start the second stage of the project after the commission completes its review on the issue," Yeh said. "The recommendations of the commission will be extremely important for us because they'll be the backbone of the second-stage draft amendments."

Under the draft bill, regional elections of city mayors, township administrators and village wardens would be abolished and the positions filled by appointment beginning in 2006.

Except for those serving Aboriginal regions, city mayors, township administrators and village wardens would need to be career civil servants in order to qualify for such appointments, which would be made by county commissioners.

Since counties would be afforded the same status as that of the two special municipalities of Taipei and Kaohsiung cities, county governments would be held responsible for taking care of the property, debts and taxation of the cities, townships and villages under their jurisdiction.

In addition, the draft bill stipulates that the appointment of top officials of counties, cities and special municipalities would also require the nomination of the central government and approval by local governments.

The central government's plan to put the administrative status of local governments on the same level as that of the special municipalities has touched off a political debate.

Proponents argued that it is time to unify the status of cities and counties because it would help balance development between urban and rural areas.

Opponents, however, have criticized the reform move as unconstitutional and have painted the proposals as nothing more than a way of attacking the KMT-led Taipei City Government.

The dispute erupted in July after a forum organized by the Ministry of the Interior to discuss amending the Law on Local Government Systems to give all local governments equal status.