Morning
County Party Committee small eting room.
After all the mbers got into their seats, Party Secretary ng Rui and Mayor Jiang arrived. Secretary ng looked terrible, and he was speaking to Mayor Jiang. She looked emotionless. Dong Xuebing looked at them and felt Jiang Fangfang seed better at concealing her emotions. Although Secretary ng has the final say in Zhen Shui County, he could not hide his emotions well.
“Have you given out the docunts?” ng Rui looked at a youth.
The youth, Zhang Feng, replied. “Yes.”
ng Rui nodded. “Let’s start the eting.”
Zhang Feng is Secretary ng’s secretary. He is around twenty-six or seven and is in charge of taking eting minutes.
The two top leaders got into their seats, and the eting started.
Dong Xuebing looked at Jiang Fangfang secretly.
Mayor Jiang drank her tea and looked in front.
Secretary ng should introduce Dong Xuebing as this was his first ti attending the eting. But everyone could tell Secretary ng was in a bad mood.
Secretary ng looked at a man in his thirties. “Chief Yan, update us on our current financial status.”
Yan Yizhi.
County Financial Departnt Chief.
Yan Yizhi is close with Secretary ng’s faction and is considered one of them.
Dong Xuebing looked at Yan Yizhi and rembered what Yao Cui had told him.
Yan Yizhi attended this eting but had no power to make any decisions. He replied. “Our funds are running low. The higher had issued so funds to use, and we had used them to repay our debts and make up last year’s deficits. Our account has less than 2 million RMB now.” 2 million RMB must seem like a lot, but it’s nothing to a county. “If we cannot get fresh funding, we might not have enough to pay our staff this month.”
The leaders started to discuss softly among themselves.
Secretary ng did not say anything. He lit a cigarette and looked at the rest.
Deputy Secretary Zhang Wanshui said. “We cannot pay the staff’s wages?! Do we have other solutions?”
Yan Yizhi replied helplessly. “We tried going to the City Governnt, but their situation is no better. They don’t have extra funds to support our County. My n visited the City three tis, and I went there once. We could not get the funds from them.” The Finance Departnt Chief is a good position many people would fight for. However, Zhen Shui County is poor, and the Finance Departnt lacks money. The Chief got to beg for funding from the City Governnt.
Deputy Mayor Ci Boyang frowned. “The City has always given us funds. Why are they not giving this year?”
Yan Yizhi explained. “The City suffered heavy losses earlier this year because of the snowstorm.”
Everyone was feeling terrible except for Jiang Fangfang.
No one said a word.
One second….
Two seconds….
Three seconds….
ng Rui snubbed his cigarette and said. “I want to inform everyone another thing. I went to the Provincial Governnt to seek financial assistance and returned this morning. You might not know about the result. The Provincial Governnt will not be giving us additional funding this year.”
“Ah?!”
“How can this be?!”
“What…. This….”
Secretary ng’s words caused everyone to panic.
Their county relied on Governnt funding every year, and they sotis needed to borrow money. The Provincial governnt is not giving them money, and they are in trouble.
No money….
The county cannot do anything now.
United Front Work Departnt Minister Jian asked. “Secretary ng, can the Province….”
ng Rui knocked on the table. “Don’t think of asking the Provincial Governnt for help. The snowstorm had a great impact on the Province too. Their fund is used in the disaster zones. I called for the eting to discuss how our county can get money to make up for the shortfalls. If we cannot think of a solution, we cannot last until the end of the month. This cannot happen.”
If the county has no money to run, the higher-ups might bla it on the County leaders.
ng Rui looked at Dong Xuebing. “Mayor Dong, you are in charge of the Finance Departnt. What do you suggest?”
Dong Xuebing thought for a while and said. “I can set an example and help speak to our people to take their salaries a few months later. Other than those in financial difficulties, the rest should be fine.” He does not mind his salary as his asset is more than 100 million.
ng Rui nodded. “We will not pay their salaries in ti this month. We must let our staff knows and get them to understand our situation.”
Everyone nodded.
Jiang Fangfang interrupted. “This is only a temporary solution.”
ng Rui nodded. “We got to solve this problem at the root.”
Deputy Mayor Ci Boyang said. “Can we organize an Investnt fair to get outside funding? We can…. I forgot Mayor Dong is in charge of the Investnt Promotion Agency now.”
ng Rui said. “Anyone can make suggestions. This is the worse year for our County, but let’s put aside the Investnt fair for now. We need funds to organize this fair and are unsure about the results. We held it once, and the funds we received were less than our cost. The investnts will also not co in so fast. Does anyone has any other suggestion?”
No one said a word.
It’s not easy to solve financial issues.
Secretary ng waited for a while and looked at Jiang Hai.
Jiang Hai said. “I rember the higher-ups had given our Education Departnt so funds. Our education departnt still has money, and we can use it first. We can put back the money when our county has funds.”
Jian Xiangrong frowned. “But that fund is for education, and it’s not much too.”
Jiang Hai continued. “We have no choice now.”
ng Rui sighed. “If we don’t have any better ideas, this is our only solution. We will use the education fund to repay the deficits and think of a solution later.”
These two n seed to be putting on an act.
Dong Xuebing could tell Secretary ng and Jiang Hai had discussed this before the eting. Secretary ng did not want to be responsible for touching a specialized fun and got Jiang Hai to suggest it during the eting.
Everyone kept quiet. After all, Secretary ng held the most power in the county.
However, Jiang Fangfang put down her cup and said. “I disagree.”
ng Rui looked at Jiang Fangfang. “Then what do you suggest?”
Jiang Fangfang replied calmly. “We cannot touch that education fund. It is used for our county’s students and education. Even if the governnt agencies cannot pay the staff for the next six months, we must protect the children’s interest.”
Deputy Secretary Zhang Wanshui said. “Mayor Jiang, we got no choice. If we have money, who wants to touch that fund?”
Publicity Departnt Minister Cheng Fuguang added. “That’s right. This is for the bigger picture.”
Jiang Fangfang replied slowly. “I disagree.”
Dong Xuebing also felt they should not be using that fund. This fund is for the children, and using it for other purposes is against his principles. However, almost everyone at the eting agrees with Secretary ng, and he can do nothing.
ng Rui looked at Jiang Fangfang. “Mayor Fang, how are we going to fill the deficit?”
Jiang Fangfang glanced at ng Rui. “I think we should ask for funding from the central governnt. If we can get 10 million from them, it will solve our problems temporarily.”
“10 million?” ng Rui laughed.
ng Rui’s people shook their heads. “This is impossible.”
ng Rui continued. “Mayor Jiang, you are too na?ve. The Central Governnt gave us lots of support. Why would they give us 10 million RMB now?”
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