No.158 Initial Budget for Fiscal Year 2025

The initial budget for this fiscal year was approved at the first Regular Session of the City Council, so I will provide an overview.

The initial budget for fiscal year 2025 was established in August of last year, and the drafting of the proposal has been progressing in accordance with that policy.

Although the Japanese economy is maintaining a recovery trend from the COVID-19 pandemic, there are growing concerns about the suppression of personal consumption due to rising prices and uncertainties regarding corporate earnings due to the expected slowdown in the global economy. On the other hand, the government recognizes in the "Basic Policy on Economic and Fiscal Management and Reform 2024" that our economy is recovering from the downturn caused by the pandemic and is facing a once-in-a-lifetime historical opportunity to completely break away from deflation and achieve a growth-oriented economy through high wage increases and corporate capital investment.

Based on these, the budget proposal for the fiscal year 2025 by the national government and Tokyo Metropolitan Government has been formulated, both updating their highest amounts ever.

In Inagi City, although there are one-time factors such as facility updates, the expenditure requests remain high, and the initial requests from each department indicated that the total expenditure was about 6.14 billion yen more than the total revenue. This revenue shortfall exceeded approximately 5.9 billion yen at the same time last year, marking the largest deficit in history, leading to an even more challenging budget formulation than before.

In the city,

1. Maintenance of sound finances, realization of the 5th Long-Term Comprehensive Plan, sustainable administrative and financial operations
2. Response to Price Increases and Changes in Social Conditions
3. Disaster prevention and mitigation measures to protect citizens from earthquakes and heavy rain disasters
4. Review of beneficiary burden, securing new financial resources, prioritization of policies

We worked on budget formulation based on the four points.

The General Fund Budget for fiscal year 7 of Reiwa has increased by 9.4% compared to the previous year, totaling 46.053 billion yen, which is the largest scale ever.

In terms of revenue, the Municipal Tax, which accounts for about 40% of the total revenue, increased by 6.4%, or 1.06 billion yen, due to factors such as the end of the fixed reduction of the Municipal Resident Tax, population growth, and an increase in newly built houses. However, the local special grant that was provided to compensate for the revenue loss from the fixed reduction decreased by about 81%, or approximately 450 million yen, resulting in a net increase in Municipal Tax of about 600 million yen.

In terms of expenditures, personnel costs increased due to salary revisions, assistance costs increased due to the elimination of income restrictions for Child Allowance, outsourcing fees for private Childcare Centers, disability care benefits, and benefits for children with disabilities. Investment expenses increased due to the construction of the new building for Inagi Dai 3 Elementary School, the expansion of Inagi Dai 2 Elementary School, and park development projects. Property costs increased due to expenses related to system standardization, outsourcing fees for Vaccination, support benefit projects for pregnant women, and food costs for School Lunch. Subsidies for the Parent or Guardian's share of School Lunch costs also increased, resulting in a 9.4% increase compared to the previous fiscal year, similar to revenues.

The main construction projects for this year include improvements to the Yomiuri Land Line roads No. 3, 4, and 12, the establishment of new roads No. 7, 5, and 3, improvements to the square in front of Inagi Station's south exit, development of Yoshikata Park, expansion of the school building at Inagi Dai 2 Elementary School, reconstruction of the school building at Inagi Dai 3 Elementary School, and installation of air conditioning in special classrooms at the junior high school. The total cost related to these construction projects amounts to approximately 4.05 billion yen, which is a significant factor in increasing the budget scale.

Next, we will introduce the distinctive budgets for each policy issue.

Child Care Support Related

　As financial support for pregnant women, we will provide electronic gifts worth 50,000 yen at the time of pregnancy notification and 50,000 yen multiplied by the number of fetuses at the time of childbirth. As part of the expansion of postpartum care services, a day-use facility will be newly established at the City Hospital, and three local parenting consultation agencies will be set up in the city. The "Any Child Attendance System" will be implemented one year ahead of schedule, allowing preschool children who are not enrolled in Nursery Schools to be cared for regardless of their Parent or Guardian's employment status. Yoshikata Park will be expanded and developed as an inclusive park, and two park sites in the Minamiyama area will be temporarily developed and opened, along with park development in the Higashi-Naganuma area under the JR Nambu Line elevated tracks.

Health and Welfare Related

　The "Inagi City Medical Plan" that will expire in the 7th year of Reiwa will be revised from the 7th year to the 8th year of Reiwa. We will promote health projects for Older Adults to understand the health status of those unknown and prevent the worsening of diseases and frailty, and support the establishment of a home-visit nursing care service that will be the third in the city, which provides regular visits and on-demand responses. The "Inagi City Community Comprehensive Care Plan" that will expire in the 8th year of Reiwa will be revised from the 7th year to the 8th year of Reiwa. We will establish the Wakabadai Interaction Center using the surplus classroom of Wakabadai Elementary School.

Education Related

　We will replace all tablet devices in preparation for the second phase of the GIGA School Initiative. To improve English proficiency in Elementary and Junior High Schools, we will increase the number of Assistant Language Teachers (ALTs) and hire them directly, and we will implement online individual English conversation classes in junior high schools. We will carry out construction work to expand the Inagi Dai 2 Elementary School building, install air conditioning in special classrooms, rebuild the Inagi Dai 3 Elementary School building, install barrier-free toilets in the Koyodai Elementary School gymnasium, waterproof the roof of the Inagi Dai 5 Junior High School gymnasium, and install air conditioning in special classrooms in junior high schools, among other facility improvements.

Crime Prevention, Disaster Prevention, and Mitigation

　We will stop the distribution of automatic call recording devices that were provided as a measure against special fraud and support the replacement with telephones equipped with security functions. To further promote the seismic retrofitting of wooden houses, we will expand the support targets to include houses built under the new seismic standards from 1981 to 2000, as well as provide subsidies for the demolition of old wooden houses that do not meet seismic standards and the installation costs of fences after the removal of block walls. We will update and distribute the "Inagi Disaster Prevention Map" created in fiscal year 2019 to all households, renovate the receiving and transforming equipment of the City Hall building, and expand the areas where business continuity is possible during power outages. We will update the fire digital radio equipment to ensure communication is not interrupted during emergencies, and in conjunction with the update of the disaster prevention administrative radio equipment, we will introduce a disaster prevention app to enhance its functionality. We will upgrade the emergency generator at the Inagi Fire Station to a larger capacity and additionally deploy drones equipped with all-weather capabilities, speakers, and supply transport devices.

Digitalization Promotion Related

　We will utilize the digital expertise of private business operators to review the workflow of the business division and promote the online processing of administrative procedures. We will improve information dissemination through the maintenance of the city website by leveraging the personnel from GovTech Tokyo, which was established to promote IT in local governments within the Tokyo area. Following the sports facilities in fiscal year 2024, we will also transition to a new reservation system for other public facilities to enhance convenience.

Sports and Tourism Related

　We will hold events utilizing the Giants Town Stadium as part of a wide-area collaboration project with the six surrounding cities that have entered into an agreement with the Yomiuri Giants. We will revise the "Second Basic Tourism Plan for Inagi City," which will expire in the 7th year of Reiwa. We will upgrade the night lighting of aging sports facilities to LED.

Regional Public Transportation Related

　In response to the serious shortage of bus drivers, we will conduct a demonstration experiment aimed at introducing new mobility transportation and research the state of public transportation in the Minamiyama area and others.

In addition, as a measure against the recent surge in prices, we have budgeted for the "Temporary Special Benefits for Households Exempt from Resident Tax" utilizing the temporary grant for local revitalization focused on responding to price surges based on the national supplementary budget for fiscal year 2024 (Reiwa 6) in the General Account Supplementary Budget (No. 7) that was decided on February 14, separate from the initial budget for fiscal year 2025 (Reiwa 7).

In addition, along with the initial budget for the fiscal year 2025, we are presenting the General Account Supplementary Budget for fiscal year 2024 (No. 8) at the first Regular Session of the City Council, which includes measures to address rising prices as well as the issuance of premium gift certificates.