The intervention in Miaoli County promised by Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) is not a “takeover,” as county government employees can be paid as long as spending priorities are properly adjusted, Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) said yesterday.
The Cabinet on Monday said it would “intervene in the county government’s management of its cash flow, involving financial discipline, to ensure that personnel and basic administrative costs can be met.”
Sun yesterday reiterated that the move is to ensure that spending prioritizes wages, followed by administrative operations.
“There is no takeover,” Sun said. “The income of the county in the latter half of the year is NT$9.99 billion [US$316.13 million]; subtracting personnel expenses of NT$6.33 billion and basic administrative costs of NT$1.38 billion leaves you with about NT$2 billion,” Sun said.
There would be “no such thing as losing the ability to pay salaries,” as long as spending is adjusted, Sun added.
The central government suggested that Miaoli County Commissioner Hsu Yao-chang (徐耀昌) follow the lead of other cities in cutting spending, Sun said.
“Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德), for instance, cut spending for city councilors’ construction funds. He was re-elected anyway and secured a good reputation,” Sun said.
“The Executive Yuan does not have such additional money to spare either,” Sun said.
According to the Central News Agency, the Executive Yuan has agreed — after coordination undertaken by two legislators from Miaoli County yesterday morning — to allocate in advance at least NT$800 million of the county’s share of centrally allotted revenues.
Meanwhile, Hsu posted a video on his Facebook page and that of the county government that calls on every Miaoli resident to “write a letter to the central government to demand an amendment to a law that is unfair to places other than the six special municipalities.”
The video says that the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) is inadequate, favors the six special municipalities and grants too little to Miaoli County.
The video also accuses former Miaoli commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻) of accruing NT$64.8 billion in debt, “utterly breaking down Miaoli’s finances.”
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