초광역 지방정부의 기관 간 견제와 균형에 관한 공법적 과제 - 지방자치법 전부개정을 통한 특별지방자치단체의 구체화를 중심으로 -

Abstract

Under the Local Autonomy Act, which will be fully revised on January 12, 2021 and will take effect on January 13, 2022, special local governments can be established and operated to strengthen cooperation between local governments and jointly handle business affairs. Special local governments were introduced from a consensus that a new cooperative system between local governments is needed due to the demand for wide-area administration for various reasons such as the development of transportation and communication technologies, expansion of living rights, and overcoming geographical limitations. The need to strengthen cooperation between local governments and promote "economic scale" in order to promote administrative efficiency at a time when it is difficult to solve the challenges with only one local government's ability, such as the crisis of local extinction due to low birth rate, aging population, and structural difficulties. Therefore, unlike previous administrative councils and local government associations, which were loose forms of cooperation under the Local Autonomy Act, the council of special local governments is expected to play an important role as the head of special local governments has the right to establish a basic plan and appoint employees separately. In other words, the key issues of special local governments are the decision-making agencies of special local governments (Council, Article 204) and the method of organization of the executive agencies (Council head, Article 205), and the burden of expenses necessary for administrative affairs (Article 206) in terms of finance. In this paper, we have examined in three dimensions what problems can arise for the successful establishment of this new system, identified and examined what issues can be raised to properly realize the principle of separation of power between voting and executive agencies (local government heads), and comprehensively considered future applicable countermeasures. Local councils of special local governments are not directly elected by residents, but are "composed of council members of compositional local governments" (Article 24 and Article 118 of the Act), which may cause controversy. In addition, the head of a special local government shall be elected (directly) by the special local government council as prescribed by the regulations. Special local governments are required to apply the existing local law, but the heads of local councils and local governments are defined as institutional alternatives based on the direct election of residents, so it may be a question of whether their checks and supervision can work properly or not. This is especially true if the right to elect the heads of local governments of local councils includes non-confidence. The possibility of diversifying the relationship between local councils and local governments (Article 4) will further diversify the factors that can cause these problems. In particular, in the process of exercising the right to audit, investigate, and assess the administrative affairs of local governments, the actual issues surrounding the schedule, order, scope of screening, and participating personnel between special local governments and compositional governments should be detailed. Otherwise, it may be difficult for the local council to supervise and control the executive power of the heads of local governments in depth and density within a set time limit. If the government is reorganized into a super-wide local government to secure autonomy and responsibility, it should consider the central government's joint audit, the Board of Audit and Inspection's right to audit legitimacy and legitimacy, as well as the rational improvement of the system's direct participation (resident audit, resident litigation, etc.).