The terms of mayors and county chiefs to be elected at the end of this year will be extended by a year to five years, according to a consensus reached Thursday at a Ministry of the Interior (MOI) meeting. The MOI convened the inter-division meeting to screen an amendment to the Law on Local Government Systems in advance of the next elections of local public office holders set for the end of this year. It was decided at the meeting that the next mayoral and county chief terms will be extended to five years so that the next mayoral and county chief elections can be held in tandem with the election of special municipality chiefs in 2014. 'The term extension is aimed at simplifying election proceedings and saving money,' said an MOI official. An MOI ad hoc panel approved in June the upgrading of Taipei County and the merger of Taichung City and Taichung County, Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County, and Tainan City and Tainan County into special municipalities. If the MOI amendment draft on the overhauled local elections clears the legislative floor, the next mayoral and county chief elections, as well as the elections of chiefs of five special municipalities -- Taipei, New Taipei, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung cities -- will be held in 2014 simultaneously, the official said. Meanwhile, it was also decided at the meeting that district administrative consultant committees will be established in the new special municipalities to allow local elected representatives -- who are poised to lose their jobs after the upgrade and mergers -- access to public office work. Members of the new district administrative consultant committees will not be paid, the meeting resolved. 