After bloody physical clashes and a record-long review lasting 45 hours, Taipei City's annual budget for this year finally passed its third reading early yesterday morning with NT$3.9 billion, or 2.48 percent, cut from the proposed total of NT$158.8 billion.
A fight broke out at 3:13am during the marathon review session when New Party City Councilor Chung Hsiao-ping (
The squabble escalated into a physical fight between the two councilors and others who attempted to mediate.
PHOTO: CHU PEI-HSIUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
During the one-minute brawl, DPP City Councilor Lo Tsung-sheng (羅宗勝) tripped and hit his head against the corner of a table and was taken to the Municipal Jen-ai Hospital for treatment. Doctors gave Lo three stitches and ordered him to stay at the hospital for two more days for further observation.
Chung was treated for a nose fracture and was later released from the same hospital.
Upon learning of the incidents, Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Despite the 2.48 percent reduction to the proposed budget -- including a 25 percent cut to the mayor's NT$1 billion supplementary fund -- Ma said he was happy that most of the city's major policies received the support of the city council.
The main budget items are the bus fare subsidies, the city's third landfill project, a sidewalk overhaul, the construction of a cable car system in the Peitou district and the funding of a domestic perishable garbage reprocessing scheme -- all of which the mayor had promised to implement during his campaign.
The NT$1.34 billion bus fare subsidy was granted under the condition that no more subsidies will be allowed for fical 2002 -- including subsidized tickets for soldiers and students.
A NT$16 million project to build a third landfill also passed the third reading on condition that the location be finalized before the funding is made available.
Though it received approval, the city's planned overhaul of sidewalks had its proposed budget of NT$1.6 billion reduced to NT$1.15 billion.
The NT$130 million land acquisition fee and the construction fee for the city's first cable car system in Peitou were granted as requested. However, the funding will not be available until the Bureau of Public Works conducts an environmental impact assessment, which would lead to the approval of the project.
The proposed NT$10 million for the domestic garbage reprocessing scheme was reduced to NT$5 million, while the NT$3 million resource recycling subsidy fund was entirely scrapped.
The cuts to the proposed budget were widely attributed to the city's inadequate tax income and reductions in the central government's revenue transfers via the tax redistribution fund. The city also claims to carry debts worth more than NT$103 billion.
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