It has been a turbulent marriage between the two municipalities on Sunnmøre. In 2020, Haram municipality was forced to become part of the new large municipality of Ålesund, which consists of five municipalities. But the new government promised that Haram would be allowed to divorce. Now the municipal council has decided to stop the work until they know how much money they will get. A political commentator in news believes it is about putting pressure on the government. – Here Ålesund municipality wants to say very clearly to the government how urgent this is for them. He does not think that it is an alternative for them to stop the process of separating Haram from Ålesund, but that it is about getting a quick answer. – I think it will be surprising if someone changes it. It will have a cost in one way or another, not just in kroner and øre. The blue and red fields show today’s Ålesund municipality. From 01.01.2024, the red field, Haram, will become its own municipality. Feeling alone The Mayor of Ålesund points out that municipal division is unplowed ground. She fears they will have to reduce the offer in the municipality if they are not able to cover what they need. – We have not received an answer, have not received assurance that the costs will be covered, says Eva Vinje Aurdal (Ap) at the municipal council meeting. The mayor of Ålesund, Eva Vinje Aurdal (Ap), says the division of municipalities is a large and expensive project. Photo: Remi Sagen / news On Thursday, the municipal council decided to postpone the work on the division of municipalities until they have received an answer as to how much money they will receive from the government. It happened against the votes of the Center Party, Raudt, two Labor Party politicians and one SV politician. Despite the fact that two weeks ago they were in a meeting with the municipal minister, they still do not know what the future of the municipality will be like. – We are talking about a lot of money, and we do not want to find ourselves in the situation that this is something that the individual resident has to suffer for. We need to know if we have coverage for the services that want to offer, says the mayor. – Approaching billions In the state budget, NOK 200 million has been set aside to cover county and municipal mergers. But this money will cover the costs of Viken, Vestfold and Telemark and Troms and Finnmark. In addition, it may be possible that Søgne will leave Kristiansand municipality. Lars Nehru Sand thinks it is obvious to the government that they must put more money on the table. – This means that the government must be prepared to perhaps approach an amount of billions, or go over it. Now Ålesund and the others are waiting for an answer from the government as to how much money they can actually get. Sand believes the municipality will receive large parts of the sum they are asking for. – I think they will generally get quite a lot of what they have asked for. He points out that the process of going through the applications is in the final phase, and believes that an answer about how much money they will get in the end will come within a couple of weeks.
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Ålesund will put the divorce with Haram on hold – the reversal is approaching billions – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
