With government budget cuts and freezes possibly affecting basic daily operations and administrative efficiency, the Presidential Office states that in addition to the suspension of holiday activities, it will also implement new energy-saving measures starting Monday.
Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said that 10% of the Presidential Office's water and electricity and 70% of the operating budget will be frozen. To save energy, she detailed that though the landscape lighting was updated at the end of 2019 and won the 2020 "Taiwan Light Environment Award", it will be reduced after sunset and completely turned off at midnight. The Office will also lower lighting in the corridors by one-quarter, reduce air conditioning usage and hours, and lessen the frequency of garden watering and car washing. Kuo added that, except for those absolutely necessary for official business, the number of newspaper and magazine subscriptions, cable TV boxes, and administrative consumables such as paper, copy machines, and printer toner are also being reduced.
Kuo stressed that the Presidential Office has been committed to saving money on energy and administrative resources for many years. However, she said that with no clear timeline of when the budget freeze will end, the Office is maintaining its basic operations through cost-saving, resource sharing, and autonomous management.