TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Five DPP local government heads urged the Cabinet on Wednesday to issue a supplementary budget and consider total revenue growth when allocating local subsidies.

Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) was joined by Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che (黃偉哲), Chiayi County Magistrate Weng Chang-liang (翁章梁), Pingtung County Magistrate Chou Chun-mi (周春米), and Penghu County Magistrate Chen Kuang-fu (陳光復) in issuing the joint request, per CNA. They called on the central government to reduce the urban-rural development gap and revise the subsidy formula to better reflect local fiscal conditions.

The officials argued that recent amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures have made it more difficult for the central government to address regional disparities. They said the current framework unfairly limits redistribution and fails to account for regional disparity.

The group emphasized two key demands. First, the Cabinet should submit a supplementary budget to prevent cuts to existing local subsidies. Second, future subsidy calculations should consider each region’s individual revenue growth.

Cabinet Spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) responded by saying that any supplementary budget must first pass the legislature, necessitating opposition support, per CNA. She added that the Cabinet is aware of the potential inequality caused by the amended law and will work with local governments to address imbalances.

Opposition voices, however, were more critical. New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜) said he was less concerned about how the subsidies are calculated, as long as the funding continues, per UDN. He stressed that local governments are legally entitled to the subsidies.

Taipei City officials rejected the proposed supplementary budget outright. Secretary-General Lee Tai-hsin (李泰興) argued that cuts made to this year’s budget do not meet the legal conditions required for a supplementary budget, per UDN.

Wei Yin (殷瑋), chair of the Taipei City Research, Development, and Evaluation Commission, said the most direct solution would be to reverse the cuts and restore the previous funding allocations.

Responding to questions about fairness, Lee said the central government was discarding established allocation rules under the Local Government Act. He warned that such changes could result in biased distributions between DPP- and KMT-led jurisdictions.