Nantou County councilors on Tuesday last week accused the county government of poor planning after county officials said they had already spent all of the NT$37 million (US$1.27 million) earmarked to subsidize dentures for older residents this year.
The program, which started last year, was supposed to pay a maximum of NT$40,000 each to subsidize dentures for people over 65 who have resided in the county for at least one year, and can provide a note and a quote from their dentist.
However, the county ran out of money just two months into the program. It then raised the program’s budget from NT$20 million to NT$37million, which again proved insufficient.
The program’s suspension prompted accusations of poor planning and lack of foresight from county councilors.
As about 80,000 residents are eligible for the program, the county should have anticipated high demand for the subsidies, said Nantou County Councilor Chang Chih-ming (張志銘) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
“It is the [county] government’s responsibility to make sound budget plans, not this sloppy attitude of spending the money until it runs out,” he said.
DPP Nantou County Councilor Lo Mei-lin (羅美玲) said she had repeatedly cautioned the county government to make better use of its limited resources by prioritizing older residents in lower-income households.
“Eligibility for the subsidies should have been prioritized according to income level,” she said.
Nantou Bureau of Social Services and Labor Administration said it is trying to find additional funds and that the program should resume in the second half of this year, adding that the county government extends its sincere apologies to the residents.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS