The Local Government Act (地方制度法) should be amended to ban city and county councilors from “recommending” budget allocations, civic groups said on Saturday, adding that most “recommended allocations” are used for pork-barrel projects and political patronage.
“‘Recommended allocations’ have already become an electoral tool to tie down voters using patronage — rather than serving a councilor’s real recommendations for local infrastructure,” Congress Watch Foundation chairman Yao Li-ming (姚立明) said.
While national and local legislative bodies are in theory only empowered to cut or freeze budgets drafted by their respective executive branches of government, there is a long history of local governments granting councilors special funds,” he said, adding that only Taipei has abolished the practice.
“This originally served as a way for local governments to buy off councilors,” he said, adding that with the exception of Kaohsiung, most local governments have ignored Directorate -General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics directives to publish figures on all “recommended allocations” for fear of sparking a backlash from local councilors.
“If you do not obey the central government’s directive, your budget will not be cut — but councilors can give you a hard time, so why create trouble?” he said, adding that amendments to the Local Government Act were necessary to force compliance.
Kaohsiung Civil Servant Citizen Watch president Chen Ming-pin (陳銘彬) said that while Kaohsiung had abolished individual councilor allocation “quotas” after publicizing fund usage, his groups investigation had found that more than 70 percent of funds continued to be used for questionable “non-urgent” projects.
Education appropriations made up the majority of funds allocated based on councilors recommendations, creating an allocation of school funding, he said, citing minimal guaranteed funding for individual school libraries, with most book-buying funds allocated based on councilor recommendations.
“It is really unreasonable, some principals are better at speaking with councilors, so they get more resources, while those who do not can end up with no subsidies at all,” he said.
ENDORSING TAIWAN: Honduran presidential candidate Nasry Afura said that Honduras was ‘100 times better off’ when it was allied with Taipei The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it would explore the possibility of restoring diplomatic relations with Honduras based on the principle of maintaining national interests and dignity. The ministry made the remarks in response to reporters’ questions regarding an article titled: “Will Taiwan Regain a Diplomatic Ally?” published in The Diplomat on Saturday. The article said Honduras’ presidential election in November could offer Taiwan the chance to regain an ally, as multiple candidates have promoted re-establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Honduras severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in March 2023 in favor of Beijing, but since switching its diplomatic recognition,
A fourth public debate was held today about restarting the recently decommissioned Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, ahead of a referendum on the controversial issue to be held in less than two weeks. A referendum on Aug. 23 is to ask voters if they agree that “the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant should continue operations upon approval by the competent authority and confirmation that there are no safety concerns.” Anyone over 18 years of age can vote in the referendum. The vote comes just three months after its final reactor shut down, officially making Taiwan nuclear-free. Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) represented
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