Taipei Times
Date: Jan 04, 2017
By: Sean Lin / Staff reporter

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei city councilors yesterday said they would try to cut Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) second reserve fund from NT$1.25 billion to NT$800 million (US$38.8 million to US$24.8 million), citing Ko’s poor use of the fund last year.

Ko has again proposed a NT$1.25 billion budget for this year’s second reserve fund, which is unreasonable, given that the mayor only used 29.8 percent of the fund last year, KMT Taipei City Councilor Wang Hsin-yi (王欣儀) told a news conference in Taipei.

Ko’s administration last year earmarked NT$717 million of the fund, but only used NT$361 million, of which NT$160 million was used to cover an increase in pensions the municipal government was required to allocate following an amendment to Article 56 of the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), she said.

Ko is requesting a budget for the fund larger than those requested by any of his predecessors, which is superfluous and at odds with the spirit of the Budget Act (預算法), Wang said, adding that Ko approved NT$230 million from the fund for construction work, of which NT$160 million has remained unused.    [FULL  STORY]