초록 열기/닫기 버튼
인천광역시가 재정압박을 받기 시작한지 5년 이상 경과하였고, 최근 몇 차례 재정위기의 고비를 넘겼다. 이 글에서는 인천광역시 재정압박의 경과와 현황 및 향후 위기해소 대책을 살펴본 후, 현재 직면하고 있는 재정위기의 원인을 분석한다. 기존 문헌들은 인천시 재정위기의 원인 즉, 경제적 요인, 정치적 요인, 제도적 요인, 그리고 관리적 요인을 병렬적으로 바라보는 경향이 있다. 이 글에서는 앞의 세 가지 요인과 재정관리적 요인을 분리하여, 재정관리 환경과 역량에 따라, 지방정부가 맞게 되는 위기 요인들이 재정위기로 비화할 수도 있고 관리 가능한 수준으로 유지될 수도 있다는 새로운 모델을 제시한다. 인천시 의회 회의록과 재무제표 등 각종 자료를 토대로 통제 기능, 예산의 계획성, 정보의 비대칭성, 공무원의 전문성 등 재정위기의 원인을 분석하고 정책적･학문적 시사점을 제시한다.
It has been more than five years since the City of Incheon has suffered from fiscal stress. The City has also experienced fiscal emergency couple of times during this period. As of 2014, the outstanding total debt of the city and its affiliated corporations amounted to thirteen trillion won, or eleven billion U.S. dollars, which is almost twice as much of the city's annual budget. In this paper, I attempt to analyze underlying causes of Incheon's fiscal emergency after reviewing relevant literature, current fiscal status and future debt-clearance plans of the city. Existing literature tends to juxtapose four factors of fiscal emergency: economic, political, institutional, and managerial factors. Different from the existing literature, managerial factor is separated from the other three in the current paper. By doing this, a new model is proposed that the three external factors can be led to fiscal emergency or to a manageable fiscal condition depending upon the city's managerial environment and capabilities. The latter refers to the three indispensible functions of public financial management, that are, control, management, and planning. Flow of information in and out of the organization is also an important factor to support these functions. Results show that the City of Incheon has revealed weaknesses in financial management, such as a) lack of control on the growing debt, b) weakness in planning in a time of fiscal austerity, c) information asymmetry between the city hall and citizens, and d) several bureaucratic problems, such as a lack of communication, coordination, and professionalism. Both policy and research implications are addressed.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
city debt, fiscal emergency, local politics, financial management
