"What?"

"It's about education expenses, which is to say paying teachers' salaries, building schoolhouses, and purchasing teaching equipment, among other costs. This accounts for over fifty percent of the financial expenditure of each township. In order to achieve the 'universal nine-year compulsory education' goal, townships have even resorted to levy all kinds of fees under various pretexts. Still, there is a significant shortfall in education funding."

Han Yu truly didn't know about these issues and found himself at a loss for words momentarily.

Deputy Mayor Shen sighed lightly and continued, "In '93, the per capita funding for urban primary school students was more than 460 yuan, a figure not given to the students themselves, but representing the total investment in education, such as paying teachers' salaries, as mentioned before. However, at that time, the per capita funding for rural primary school students was only a bit over 250 yuan, nearly half less.

In '93, the per capita funding for urban middle school students was more than 940 yuan, whereas for rural areas, it was only 472, a significant gap. By last year, the gap between the two had tripled, and this is just the urban-rural divide; regional disparities are even bigger."

Education also requires investment to yield results.

Han Yu suddenly realized and couldn't help but ask, "How large are the regional disparities?"

"In '93, the average funding for primary school students in East Sea City, including its suburban areas, reached 879 yuan. Director Cheng from the Education Bureau is an experienced educator; he said that back in '93, the average funding for primary school students in Linghai was only 125 yuan, a sevenfold difference!"

Deputy Mayor Shen looked at Han Yu's astonished face and said with a bitter smile, "The secretaries of Sanhe, Jiangbin, and Tianbu townships have been robbing Peter to pay Paul, trying their best by even risking the ire of the citizens with fines and levies, charging for all sorts of things. Yet, they barely managed to ensure the basic salaries of teachers.

It's impossible to send teachers for further training at teacher training colleges, and so is improving the teaching environment. In short, since the tax-sharing reform, there has been only enough to maintain teachers' salaries, with no investment in other areas. I've heard that Linghai used to have a youth cultural palace. Where is it now?"

After hearing what the leader had said, Han Yu suddenly realized that the youth cultural palace, workers' cultural palace, and workers' movie theater in Linghai seemed to have all closed down.

Han Yu remained silent for a moment, his face showing distress as he asked, "Isn't it often said that no matter how poor we are, we can't afford to neglect education?"

"That's true in words, and the leaders not only say it but also want to do it. However, you must first have the funds."

Deputy Mayor Shen patted Han Yu's arm and changed the topic, "In fact, it's not just education that's in dire straits; healthcare is in the same boat. These past few years, not a penny has been invested in healthcare by the municipality, and village health clinics have become paralyzed. Even Bailong Port Health Center, which you are most familiar with, has shut down.

The situation in agriculture isn't any better. Have we undertaken any water conservancy construction for farmlands in recent years? Agricultural technology promotion has long been in name only. When all is said and done, the root of the problem is the lack of funds. You might not believe it, but Secretary Ye and Mayor Qian worry every day about where to get the money to pay the Party cadres and teachers."

Over the past few years, those who lived off the water never worried about lack of funds.

Although they also worried about money, it was initially for repairing boats, then for building new ones.

Han Yu suddenly realized that the situation ashore was completely different from that on the river and asked quietly, "Is the city's financial situation really that tight?"

"Extremely tight."

Deputy Mayor Shen sighed softly and said gravely, "Linghai people respect teachers and value education; they are hardworking and have a tradition in business. In recent years, those with good academic performance have gone on to further studies, those with average performance have gone out to work, and those with clever minds and courage have gone into business and opened factories.

While the living standards of the people have improved, and they can endure the constantly rising agricultural tax, the three levies and five collections, and various kinds of administrative and institutional fees, even impositions, without feeling too burdened, the government still has no money."

"The reason we have been able to maintain until now, to ensure the salaries of you officials, is largely related to many people starting factories over these past years. After all, starting a factory requires land, and the government can sell the land. But now, that's no longer possible."

Han Yu asked urgently, "Why is it not possible?"

"It is said that the superiors have compared satellite images from thirty-five cities from '86, '90, and last year, discovering that urban expansion and land occupation in the past decade have been extremely severe, already affecting food security. The central government has decided to implement the strictest land management system."

Deputy Mayor Shen paused, then added, "What strict measures will be taken next, I don't know. But two halts have been implemented, that is, halting county-to-city conversions and suspending land approval for one year. They say it's a halt for one year, but in reality, how long it will actually be, nobody can tell."

Han Yu pondered and said, "This means that Linghai has been quite lucky, at least managing to turn Linghai County into Linghai City before these two halts."

"Being the last to go through with the county-to-city conversion does give us some face, but that alone is useless; we also need substance. To develop the economy, we firstly need land. The land we got approval for and can develop is only so much, so we must maximize the benefits on the only and limited industrial land we have."

Looking at Han Yu, who seemed thoughtful, Deputy Mayor Shen said very seriously and solemnly, "Director Zhu said that when you were at Yanjiang Police Station, you controlled the most valuable fixed assets of the entire Linghai Police Bureau. After being transferred to Changhang Bureau, it was still the same case. Now, we also control the most precious asset of the whole Linghai, which is the valuable industrial land.

"This determines that we, the officials of the Port District, in the future will not only be Party cadres and managers but also businessmen. Only by running the Port District well can we make money, and only by making money can we increase investment in areas such as education, healthcare, and agriculture."

The Port District Management Committee really is like a company; next, we really need to run it like one.

Han Yu had a moment of clarity, just about to speak when Deputy Mayor Shen again showed a smile, half-jokingly said, "Only by developing the Port District can your daughter eventually attend a good school, receive better education, and not lose out at the starting line like I did."

"I can send Han Han to study in Binjiang."

"..."

"Mayor Shen, I was joking. If an official doesn't serve the people, they might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes. I am now an official of the Port District, I cannot only think about my own child, but also about the children of the three townships in the Port District."

"That's more like it."

Deputy Mayor Shen laughed, then said thoughtfully, "Going forward, we need to not only increase revenues but also reduce expenditures. One of the reasons why the township finances are so stressed and the burden on farmers is so heavy is that there are too many people depending on the supply.

One of the reasons why the City Committee and Municipal Government have included Jiangbin and Tianbu townships into the Port District is to make preparations for the consolidation of townships. However, before the consolidation of townships, we need to first complete the consolidation of dozens of villages. Several villages will be merged into one, and this involves the vital interests of many village officials. You, the police, will need to play a role in the future to ensure social stability."

"Yes!"

"By the way, the matter with the invitation cards was handled beautifully. The Shuzhou Municipal Committee Office might have taken into account that only sending invitation cards was not formal enough, so they sent out an additional invitation yesterday afternoon. Secretary Ye was very pleased and praised you again this morning."

"I just asked for a few invitation cards; what's there to be praised about."

"Of course, it's worthy of praise, at least I wouldn't have been able to get them if I had gone there."

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