Osaka's legal council agreed on Tuesday that four special wards would replace Osaka city on New Year's Day 2031 if the metropolis plan clears a referendum, fixing the date that anchors a decade-long bet on merging city and prefecture to repair Osaka's finances.
The council, a statutory body debating the design of the plan, settled the transition date at a meeting. Nippon Ishin no Kai proposed the New Year holiday because it avoids the busiest periods for local government and allows a safe switchover of computer systems.
A referendum is expected to coincide with the unified local elections in April 2027. Even if voters approve, scrapping Osaka city and reorganizing it into four special wards would take three to four years of system work.
Switching systems between the city and the wards, and checking that they run, needs at least four closed days. Officials judged the year-end and New Year holidays more suitable than the turn of the fiscal year or the Golden Week holidays in May, when moving-in and address-change paperwork piles up.
Deputy capital status and staffing
The council also decided to write Osaka's future vision, including its aim to be designated a deputy capital, into the plan's written agreement setting out the institutional proposal.
Staffing for the special wards was discussed at the same meeting. Running each ward's services more smoothly requires 90 more employees, the council found.
That raised the number of staff involved in running the wards, including teachers and other personnel at public kindergartens, to 16,840. The council decided to redo its fiscal estimates to match.