The central government will refrain from increasing the size of local governments to the extent that it would compromise the principle of streamlining their structure, the Central Personnel Administration (CPA) said in a press statement.
The Examination Yuan’s Ministry of Civil Services said on Thursday that the number of employees in local governments could be increased by 22,500 after Taipei County is upgraded to a municipality and the counties and cities of Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung are merged into municipalities at the end of next year.
In accordance with related regulations, a municipality with a population of more than 2 million is allowed to have a maximum of 15,400 employees, while the number of government staff is capped at 6,500 for a municipality with a population between 1.25 million and 2 million. Chou Chiu-ling (周秋玲), director of the Department of Laws and Regulations at the ministry, said that Taipei County would be allowed to increase its staff by 6,668, while the staff numbers could be increased in the merger of Taichung, Kaohsiung and Tainan by 9,439, 5,628, and 669 respectively.
All the counties and cities said in their proposals that they would not increase the number of staff by a large margin because they are all on a limited budget, Chou said. In the proposals, Taichung County and Taichung City wished to increase staff by 1,000 in the first stage. Tainan County and Tainan City said that the number of staff in a merged Tainan City would remain at the current level, as did Taipei County. Kaohsiung County and Kaohsiung City said they would hire more staff in a gradual manner, Chou said.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
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