The matter in summary Bø municipality in Vesterålen has in recent years taken measures to attract new immigrants, including by offering free nursery school and maternity allowance. The municipal economy is now strained, and it has been proposed to remove these benefits in order to balance the budget. Municipal director Kine Anette Johnsen also proposes to increase the property tax and cut the health and care sector, schools and kindergartens and in the administration. Mayor Sture Pedersen doubts that the cuts will be carried out, and believes that the politicians will find a solution to finance the measures. The municipality has previously sold shares in Vesterålskraft and replenished the municipal coffers with NOK 250 million, but this money is now being eaten up. The municipal politicians in Bø will adopt next year’s budget and financial plan on 14 December. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. Bø municipality is not like other municipalities. Located at the far end of Vesterålen, the municipality with around 2,600 inhabitants has had to think creatively to attract new residents. With mayor Sture Pedersen (H) at the helm, the municipality has taken a number of measures to make itself attractive. Just listen here: But if you thought everything was just rosy in Vesterål municipality, you’ll have to think again. A tight budget The last months before Christmas are important for municipal politicians. It is during this period that the next year’s budget is decided upon, as well as a plan for the next four years. When municipal director Kine Anette Johnsen sent out her proposal for next year’s budget, a number of cuts were proposed to make ends meet. The property tax is proposed to be increased from 2 to 3 per thousand per thousand in 2024, and to the maximum level of 4 per thousand per thousand in 2025. Free daycare will be removed. The subsidy for newborns and two-year-olds will be removed. In addition, cuts have been introduced in the health and care sector, schools and daycare centers and in the administration. – It is to a very large extent due to external conditions, says municipal director Johnsen. She highlights increased wage costs, increased pension costs, price growth and interest costs as the main reasons for the cut proposals. Kine Anette Johnsen is municipal director in Bø municipality, and has proposed tightening the economy over the next few years. Photo: Bø municipality – That’s why we had to create a tight budget to break even. – It will not only be tough in 2024, but also in the entire economic plan period until 2027 – if nothing happens with the interest rate and the state comes in with more money, she says. For example, free kindergarten costs the municipality NOK 2.6 million. In comparison, the interest rate rise in 2023 alone has been between NOK 6 and 7 million for Bø. This also means that the director of the municipality proposes to take the municipality’s savings to cover the expenses. But what about the municipal property tax, which made Bø nationally famous? The municipal director proposes to keep it unchanged at 0.20 per cent. Johnsen explains this by saying that the municipality has received more capital and willingness to invest in Bø. – It is difficult to say whether we are losing financially, even if we are being pulled in a bit in terms of equalization. The tax equalization scheme Simply explained, the tax equalization scheme for the municipalities is based on a “Robin Hood” principle. Where a municipality with an income below the national average has been compensated for some of the difference from those above the average. In 2020, for example, Oslo received NOK 5.7 billion, which was then distributed to poorer municipalities and county municipalities. From 2022, the government has agreed to slightly change the scheme to “counteract that the municipality’s reduced tax income as a result of lower tax rates will be compensated by other municipalities”. The Labor Party: – Headless operation – Happily, I see that the director of the municipality has very similar thoughts to what I have had with regard to what must happen now. That’s what Stein Bismo in the Labor Party in Bø says. He is concerned that the municipality is eating up the savings to make the budget go up. Even the municipal director’s budget lacks NOK 5.5 million – every year – for the next three years. Bismo believes that this testifies to the fact that you operate beyond your means. – At the start of this year, we had NOK 56 million in the buffer account. If we are lucky now, there will be NOK 23 million at the end of 2023. In two years, the municipality’s savings have decreased by NOK 63 million. – It’s a bit mindless, I think, says Bismo. It goes without saying that the municipality has invested heavily in broadband in the municipality. But since this cannot be entered as investments, the money has been taken from the discretionary fund. The mayor doubts cuts – It has never come from the director of the municipality that you should have free kindergarten. It is us politicians who have introduced it as a district policy measure. And especially in these animal times, it has been very popular. That’s what mayor Sture Pedersen says – who doesn’t think there will be any of the cuts at all. Mayor Sture Pedersen has been mayor in Bø since 2007. After the autumn elections, the Conservative Party lost its absolute majority in the municipality, but gained one representative from the Progress Party to secure a majority in the municipal council. Photo: Øystein Nygård / news – What we politicians have to look at this. I think this will probably be adjusted in place. – In English, there is something called “dead on arrival” about proposals that have no chance when they get to political consideration. Is this such a proposal? – Maybe, yes. – You mean that it is? – Yes, that is, it is the politicians who will decide this. – Can you promise here and now that you will not make any cuts in the measures that have been introduced? – What I can promise is that we will look at how we are going to finance the measures, and in particular this with kindergarten is something we are looking at very strongly. We know that there are people who have moved to the municipality because of this. Got rich from power sales In 2021, Bø municipality sold 35 percent of the shares it held in Vesterålskraft to Lofotkraft. The municipal coffers could thus be filled with NOK 250 million. It is this money that the municipality is now eating away at. – That is true, but then we are also lucky to have that savings. NOK 180 million is held in funds that could possibly generate a return. – But do you agree that one operates beyond one’s means when using one’s savings? – Yes, but it is the case that in bad times the good measures can mean that some people actually choose to move to a district municipality, such as Bø, rather than settle in a big city. And it is not the case that when we have used the disposal fund, we have not wasted the money, says Pedersen, referring to the municipality’s broadband investment. – I am optimistic that this year and then we will get a good budget for the beef removals, he says in conclusion. On 14 December, the municipal politicians in Bø will adopt next year’s budget and financial plan – either with or without cuts in benefits.
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Proposes cuts in free daycare and property tax in Bø municipality – news Nordland
