– We are forced to clean up the myriad of laws, orders, regulations and requirements that the Storting has imposed on Norwegian municipalities over many years, says leader of the municipal committee Lene Vågslid to news. Together with the leader of the finance committee, Tuva Moflag, she invites the rest of the Storting to “cross-political self-examination”. – We have to go within ourselves, she says. RULE CHAOS: Labor leaders Lene Vågslid and Tuva Moflag want to clean up the forest of rules and orders in the municipalities. Photo: Mats Rønning / news – What has Ap done that they shouldn’t have done? – Ap, like some other parties, has been involved in well-intentioned resolutions in the Storting. The intentions have been good, but it has become too massive for Municipality-Norway, she says. The two Ap leaders are now taking the initiative for a meeting with KS over the New Year, to which the other parties in the Storting are also invited. In addition to them, a restructuring commission will be established for the municipalities next term. Last week, the “Bergen Alliance”, which consists of 17 municipalities around Bergen, decided that a national project should be established to “simplify and de-bureaucratize” the governance dialogue between the state and the municipalities. The initiative in the Storting otherwise receives broad support from mayors with whom news has been in contact: Tonje Ljones Såkvitne (Sp), mayor in Voss heradI am very happy that a debate has arisen that the municipalities should be empowered to a greater extent. The municipalities need the state to finance statutory services and reduce the state’s detailed management. news Gunn Åmdal Mongstad (Sp), mayor of SolundThis is very good! Small municipalities, like large ones, have the same requirements and desire to keep residents safe and deliver quality services. In further work, a distinction should be made between what should be absolute requirements for the services, and consider removing detailed requirements that can be solved in different ways. The municipalities must have room for “tailoring”. Then the result will probably be the best. Arnar Kvernevik (Ap), mayor of Gloppen My suggestion to the municipal committee is that this clean-up work should be about more than reducing requirements. It should also be about flexibility and local adaptation. The municipalities should be given greater freedom to prioritize and adapt the tasks to their specific needs and resources. As there are large variations in municipality size and financial conditions, a more flexible approach will be the most viable.Terje Søviknes (Frp), mayor of BjørnafjordenMore money will not solve everything going forward. The tasks must also be solved in new ways, and the municipalities must be given room to organize, develop and produce the services as they wish. A start would be to reduce state detailed management by removing staffing standards and to limit state reporting and supervision. Speech Hauso Morten Helland (KrF), mayor of Bømlo This is a very welcome signal. Over several years, many demands and expectations have been placed on the municipalities from the government. Seen in isolation, the toppings can be small. It is therefore argued that the municipalities are financed through the framework grant. But in sum, this amounts to billions in increased costs over several years. So money is not the main challenge. It is having enough hands to perform the services. ODDMUND HAUGEN Jenny Følling (Sp), mayor SunnfjordI welcome the initiative. It is about time and completely in line with what the municipalities have been pointing out for a long time. The sum of all good and well-intentioned laws, rules, judicial leaders and staffing norms stifles local democracy. It restricts the municipalities’ freedom of action, makes operations more expensive and makes it difficult to make local adjustments. I think it is a good initiative, and it is time to give substance to the trust reform. Stad kommune Judith Kvåle (Ap), Mayor of StadDei In recent years, the demand for expertise within planning work has increased considerably, which leads to the municipalities having to buy services from commercial actors, as each municipality cannot have specialist expertise in, for example, eelgrass or freshwater mussels. The purchase of such consulting services means that the municipalities receive operating expenses at a level that is not appropriate in relation to the size of many municipalities. Audun Mo (Ap), mayor of LærdalI am glad that the national politicians are addressing this. I think this is a completely necessary initiative, and good news for the municipalities. Roy Egil Stadheim (Ap), mayor of Vik This is a good initiative. No municipality delivers on all legal requirements today, and it will get worse with a worse economy. In addition, it is demanding to recruit professionals. The state does not meet this by adapting the requirement – on the contrary. Control and supervision increase. At the same time, expectations from residents and businesses are increasing. This is how the municipalities get into trouble. Oddgeir Øystese Yngve Fosse (H), mayor of Askøy It’s great that central politicians are coming to the realization that something must be done, but I’m quite unsure if they’ll be able to get anywhere. There have been good intentions about this in the past. I welcome this and am quite clear that something must be done. There is a lot to take off! Not forced KS raised the alarm in the autumn about a crisis and NOK 15 billion in deficit in the municipal sector. On Friday, the government put NOK 5 billion on the table, but the problem is not just a lack of money. KS believes the challenge is much deeper and points to large discrepancies between requirements and expectations from the state and economic reality. – Many municipalities feel that there are too many legal requirements, says Vågslid, who also sits on the program committee of the Labor Party. – The main problem is perhaps that we do not have a comprehensive overview of the requirements imposed by the municipalities, says Moflag. KS believes that the teacher standard is one example of governance requirements that the Storting has imposed on the municipalities. Photo: NTB Vågslid says Labor does not want to set a framework for what can be discussed, with one exception: Municipal structure and forced mergers. – It is a small creative track. We want to give the municipalities more freedom and less coercion. – Brilliant initiative KS leader Gunn-Marit Helgesen believes the proposal can provide better services and greater room for action in the municipalities. – I think it is important to achieve a cross-party settlement, because this is demanding. We have very detailed legal requirements, regulations and guidelines. Helgesen points to the teacher standard as a concrete example of government management requirements. Norma set requirements for how many employees should be in the classroom at any given time. MUNICIPAL TOPPERS: Municipal and District Minister Erling Sande and KS leader Gunn-Marit Helgesen. Photo: NTB She also points to requirements for competence – They are so detailed that you may not be able to get hold of personnel with the right competence. Then the municipality becomes a law breaker, and perhaps provides worse services than if they had more room for action. Neither Moflag nor Vågslid will give specific examples of what they believe are unnecessary legal requirements. The reason is that they fear it could lead to the conversations derailing or breaking off before they have started. MUNICIPAL POLITICAL SPOKESPERSON: Mudassar Kapur i Høgre. Photo: William Jobling / news Municipal policy spokesperson for Høgre, Mudassar Kapur, is positive about the proposal from the Labor leaders, but points out that the municipalities must be involved. – We are involved in all processes that simplify and decentralize decisions, he says. Published 04.11.2024, at 16.01
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