No.30 Initial Budget for Fiscal Year 2014

(Inagi Newsletter, April 15, 2014 issue)

This year's initial budget for the new fiscal year was approved at the March City Council Regular Session and has been in effect since the 1st of this month.
The scale of the General Fund Budget for fiscal year 2014 is 36.25 billion yen, an increase of 5.36 billion yen or 17.3% compared to the previous year, making it the largest budget in history.
This year, we will implement large-scale projects including approximately 3.45 billion yen for the construction costs of the Inagi Dai 1 Elementary School old building replacement, the expansion of Inagi Dai 7 Elementary School, the new construction of (tentative name) Minamiyama Elementary School, and the large-scale renovation of Inagi Dai 1 Junior High School. Additionally, approximately 440 million yen will be allocated for subsidies for the rebuilding of the Second Nursery School and the new construction of a nursery school within the Minamiyama eastern district redevelopment area. Furthermore, about 220 million yen will be contributed towards the construction of a memorial hall by the Inagi and Fuchu Cemetery Association, and approximately 510 million yen for the construction costs of the (tentative name) Nagamine sports facility combined multi-purpose plaza.
In addition, due to considerations related to the increase in the consumption tax rate, there are special circumstances such as the provision of approximately 350 million yen for the temporary welfare benefits and the temporary special benefits for parenting households, resulting in this large budget.
In addition, as a necessary recurring expense each year, assistance costs in the fields of disability care benefits and Public Assistance have significantly increased.
This budget formulation, as I conclude my fourth year in office, has set challenges such as maintaining sound finances more than ever, continuing support for disaster-stricken areas, enhancing the city's disaster prevention and mitigation measures, controlling regular expenses, and reviewing the burden on beneficiaries.
What we particularly focused on is steadily promoting the facility development outlined in the Long-Term Comprehensive Plan. Since the implementation of investment projects coincided, a very large expense is required, but we prepared the budget while appropriately utilizing funds (savings) and municipal bonds (long-term borrowing).
Regarding reconstruction support, we will continue to dispatch staff to Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture this fiscal year.
Regarding disaster prevention and mitigation measures, we will introduce national funds to expand the subsidy amount for the seismic retrofitting of wooden houses.

On the other hand, the city's unique emergency economic measures, which have been implemented as a temporary measure since fiscal year 2009, will be reviewed while taking into account the recent trend of economic recovery, and some necessary measures will be made permanent.
In the field of parenting support, we will implement significant reforms regarding after-school measures for elementary school students, along with addressing the issue of waiting lists for nursery schools. While expanding the After-School Childcare Program, which requires the development of dedicated facilities, has been physically challenging, we aim to accept all applicants in principle by incorporating the After-School Children's Program, which implements more relaxed supervision. We will conduct a trial at eight elementary schools in fiscal year 2014, assess the demand for use, and aim for implementation in all schools in fiscal year 2015. Additionally, we will continue the traditional After-School Childcare Program after reviewing some of the admission criteria in the future.
This year, we will continue our efforts towards vibrant Community Development in Inagi, and we ask for the understanding and cooperation of all citizens.