同床異夢的台南縣市合併改制案

Abstract

民國九十八年，行政院核定四個直轄市的合併改制案，這是國民政府遷台以來相當大的一次行政區域改劃。其中台南縣市合併改制為直轄市，行政院是以文化面向的考量通過此案。不過由於台灣過去並沒有面積較大的直轄市，不管是法律層面、或是行政管理經驗皆欠缺前例參考，九十九年縣市正式合併後，原台南縣行政體系經歷了從省轄縣到直轄市的一連串轉換過程，本文意欲初步呈現合併轉換過程中行政體系出現的問題，以及民眾受到的影響，進而探討可能的對策。 本文之發想圍繞著四個主要軸心問題，包括：縣市合併後，單一市政府管理三十七個行政區的管理模式問題；原台南縣市交界的發展縫合問題；偏遠鄉鎮於合併後的發展問題，以及原台南縣民意代表對曾文溪以北地區被邊緣化的擔憂。 訪談結果發現，台南縣市改制初期的磨合不良現象，隨著現任市長賴清德進入第二任任期逐漸消失，但因為在地經濟結構尚在轉型，導致在外地受高等教育的年輕人，欲回鄉就業稍顯困難。另外，直轄市政府的法律面設計，可能引發公務體系的行政慣性，而阻礙對台南縣原有鄉鎮市的發展。而在台南財政狀況不佳的背景下，要兼顧市區與偏遠鄉鎮的基礎硬體建設，顯得需要發展新的管理思惟，合併改制後因民代數目減少，偏鄉也有被犧牲的可能。基層行政官員、民意代表與民眾對政府行政效率的改變反應不一。民意代表認為市政府統一事權，有公文遞送程序冗長的缺點，而民眾可能由於直接面對市政府的機會較少，對政府行政效率的改變感覺較不明顯。 城市的規模經濟需要一定數量人口與產業支撐，從長遠面向觀察之，台南縣市合併改制直轄市有助於競爭，但短期如何統合原縣市兩邊資源，兼顧三十七個行政區的個別需求，仍須行政單位在管理上因地制宜，發展更細膩的策略。

In 2009, Executive Yuan accepted new establish applications of four special municipalities, which included Xinbei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung. This is a rather big boundary change in Taiwan’s local government history after KMT retreated from mainland China in 1949. The application of Tainan City, or the Greater Tainan Special Municipality, was accepted by its rich of culture and history. Since there is no special municipality contains such a huge area in Taiwan before, the Tainan City administration lacks of experience to manage difference triggered by laws and local political forces. This essay is about to cover the antagonism inside the administration, and also record events affecting common people among this merging process. The article will focus on four questions. How does the city government care all the needs of its thirty-seven towns or areas? How do the areas across old county-city boundary now get merged? How will the remote towns in eastern mountain areas get developed after they become parts of Tainan City? Is it true that the areas north of Tseng-Wen River being ignored after the merger? After interviews, we found that the antagonism between old-Tainan-county and old-Tainan-city is weakened since the second tern of Mayor Ching-Te Lai. College graduates still have some difficulty to find jobs in hometown, owing to the industrial structure not upgraded. The Local Government Systems Act limits local administrators’ duties, causing them prone to take a passive attitude handling local affairs. Administrative inertia poses hurdles in fount of local development. Deficits would make government choose to use lower budget to maintain infrastructure in remote areas. Seats of city councilor are cut during the merge, pumping budget more likely tilting to downtown areas. Some delegates note that administrative efficiency becomes slow caused by structure of bureaucracy. Many interviewees from private sectors don’t notice the efficiency difference before and after the merge. Most of the interviewees agree that the merger will benefit Tainan, making it more competitive in the long run. But there are still some major problems in administrative aspect left to be solved.