Exclusive: National firefighters, limited state support, and a 27.6% plunge in next year’s safety grant

South Korea’s fire and safety grant, which funds firefighters’ personnel costs and fire and safety infrastructure, is set to shrink by 27.6% next year. The reduction reflects falling cigarette sales and the resulting decline in the individual consumption tax used to finance the grant.

The budget submitted to the National Assembly on the 8th puts next year’s grant at about 760.5 billion won, down 289.8 billion won from this year’s 1.0503 trillion won. It would be the second-smallest amount since the share of cigarette consumption-tax revenue allocated to the grant rose from 20% to 45% in 2020.

The cut could increase pressure on local governments. Although all firefighters became national civil servants in April 2020, the national government’s share of their personnel costs remains only 8.4% in this year’s budget. Local governments cover roughly 86% of the costs.

The system was created after the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster, when governing and opposition parties agreed to establish a fire-safety tax. Fire services remain under metropolitan and provincial governments, which operate fire headquarters under their governors. The 2020 nationalisation of the firefighting workforce aimed to reduce regional disparities in staffing, equipment and facilities, but the funding structure did not change enough to match that reform.

“

Personnel costs are about 1.1 trillion won, but the central government provides only 80 billion won.

The grant’s instability makes long-term planning difficult. Personnel costs are hard to reduce when local finances tighten, which can leave less money for safety equipment and facilities. Regional differences remain. A National Assembly Research Service document published earlier this year found that annual clothing allowances ranged from 250,000 won per firefighter in Busan and Jeju to 700,000 won in Ulsan.

Professor Lee Young-joo of Kyungil University said the state had failed to establish a separate funding source after firefighters became national civil servants. “Maintaining the budget system used when firefighters were local civil servants is not realistic,” he said.

The government’s planned Future Response Fund is also expected to leave ordinary local-government grants below earlier projections, adding to concerns over municipal finances. Gyeonggi Governor Choo Mi-ae recently highlighted the imbalance, saying the province’s firefighting workforce had grown 1.4 times over a decade while related costs had risen 1.8 times. She said personnel costs reached about 1.1 trillion won, while the central government contributed only 80 billion won.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the National Fire Agency said they would develop efficient budget-management measures to prevent disruption to disaster and firefighting responses.

“

Maintaining the budget system used when firefighters were local civil servants is not realistic.