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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 No cash for strapped Miaoli County: Executive Yuan
Miaoli County Commissioner Hsu Yao-chang speaks in Miaoli yesterday about his hopes for financial assistance from the central government. Photo: Peng Chien-li, Taipei Times
By Peng Chien-li, Chang Hsun-teng and Jake Chung / Staff reporters, with Staff Writer
The Executive Yuan turned down the Miaoli County Government’s request for relief funds yesterday, but said that it would dispatch monitors to help the debt-ridden county government plan its fiscal management and controls, Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun （孫立群） said yesterday.
Miaoli County Commissioner Hsu Yao-chang （徐耀昌） last week applied for bailout funds totaling NT$10 billion （US$320.5 million）, citing the county’s inability to pay its employees their salaries this month.
The Cabinet instead would “intervene in the county government’s management of its cash flow, involving financial discipline, to ensure that personnel and basic administrative costs can be met,” Sun said in Taipei.
The central government would follow a principle of “intervention before assistance,” Sun said, adding that it would be “impossible to give more money” at present.
Hsu said the county government would be glad to cooperate with central government monitors in planning financial management, adding that with the intervention, the central government would learn to what extent Miaoli County’s finances were in arrears.
However, with central government intervention, the monitors must enact sweeping changes to fix the county government’s wages and other issues, Hsu said.
Otherwise, the county government would keep accruing debt monthly — NT$800 million this month and NT$800 million more next month, Hsu said.
The county government would not even be able to pay out rewards or year-end bonuses, he added.
Hsu said that he had talked with Executive Yuan Secretary-General Chien Tai-lang （簡太郎） and expressed hopes that the central government would allot money for the county to at least pay its civil servants.
According to Hsu, Chien said he would look into the matter, but could make no promises on funding or a date of transfer if the funding were approved.
Sun’s comments yesterday appear to have made that outcome unlikely.
Former Miaoli county commissioner Liu Cheng-hung （劉政鴻） recently suggested using the Jhunan Science Park special zone and the Taiwan High Speed Rail Miaoli Station designated zone as collateral to secure bank loans, adding that the properties have an estimated value of NT$11.6 billion.
Hsu said he had talked with experts on the issue and concluded the suggestions were not viable solutions.
The properties have been used as collateral for funds, but the loans had not been reimbursed, despite the completion of the high-speed rail station’s designated zone, Hsu said, adding that supplementary loans would have to pass through government financial units in addition to lenders.
“It is not as simple as people make it out to be,” Hsu said.
If it were possible to lower the interest rates on the loans, the county could trim some spending, but the interest rates would only rise if the county sought another loan.
It is not a good idea to roll more debt on to an increasingly steep debt mountain, Hsu said.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
