Extra money from a rise in airport fees that is to go to Taoyuan’s Dayuan District (大園) should go toward scholarships, long-term healthcare and medical subsidies, Dayuan officials said on Wednesday.
Landing fees at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are to rise in 2021 after Taoyuan International Airport Corp in September 2017 introduced a flat rate. This led to a 40 percent increase in compensation funds, of which Dayuan receives a share.
The airport company said that in 2021, NT$323 million (US$10.5 million), or 73 percent of the total compensation package, would go to Dayuan, up NT$81 million from last year.
Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) has agreed to issue scholarship funds from next year for high-school and tertiary students, Democratic Progressive Party Taoyuan City Councilor Yu Wu-ho (游吾和) said.
The scholarships would total NT$12 million, which would come from an extra NT$27 million the district is expected to receive next year in addition to what it got this year, Yu said.
Funds for long-term care and people with severe diseases should be considered, as such policies would draw healthcare facilities to Dayuan, Yu said.
Subsidies for health checks could be boosted by NT$500, from the current NT$1,500, he said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taoyuan City Councilor Hsu Chi-wan (徐其萬) said that compensation funds last year were mostly used to subsidize health checks and school lunches, while additional funding would allow scholarships to be reinstated for high-school students.
Proceeds from fiscal 2018 would allow the airport company to distribute NT$480 million among districts near the airport, it said.
However, due to accounting cycles, compensation from 2018 would not be available until 2021, it said.
Landing fees are calculated according to tonnage and noise levels, with 0.13 percent going to local governments, Taoyuan Noise Pollution Prevention Division head Huang Po-hung (黃伯弘) said.
The money’s distribution is based on each borough’s population, with all 15 of Dayuan’s boroughs falling in a level 2 noise pollution zone, Huang said.
This means that the district receives 73 percent of the funds after 10 percent is deducted for administrative costs, Huang said.
The company paid NT$340 million, NT$359 million, NT$398 million and NT$479 million in compensation to the Taoyuan City Government from 2015 to 2018 to be distributed from 2018 to 2021, it said.
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