{"id":20208,"date":"2022-11-03T22:43:57","date_gmt":"2022-11-03T22:43:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/i-have-never-seen-such-an-unsocial-budget-proposal-before-news-nordland\/"},"modified":"2022-11-03T22:43:58","modified_gmt":"2022-11-03T22:43:58","slug":"i-have-never-seen-such-an-unsocial-budget-proposal-before-news-nordland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/i-have-never-seen-such-an-unsocial-budget-proposal-before-news-nordland\/","title":{"rendered":"– I have never seen such an unsocial budget proposal before – news Nordland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It is indisputable that conditions will be tight in Kommune-Norge next year. That’s what H\u00e5vard moe says, who is a senior consultant at KS Konsulent. – I have worked with municipal finances for 20 years, but I cannot remember a budget harvest that has been so marked by crisis. There will be a sea battle in Kommune-Norge as the bill is settled, says Moe. Today, the municipal director in Bod\u00f8 presented his proposal for the budget for 2023 and financial plan for the next four years. The cuts are proposed in the school health service, the outdoor contact and mental health service, and a total of 17.5 man-years are to be abolished. Health and care must reduce operations by 41 million next year, if the proposal is adopted by the city council. – It is disastrous for children and young people, says Iris S\u00f8derholm, who is the main shop steward for the psychologists in Bod\u00f8 municipality. She says that she became physically unwell and had a stomach ache when she sat and listened to the presentation of the budget. She does not hesitate to describe such a scenario as catastrophic. – What I am afraid of is that we are demolishing offers that have been built up over years. And which are absolutely necessary for the young and the vulnerable in the municipality. A municipal psychologist believes that investing in mental health is good economics. Photo: Bente H.Johansen \/ news That’s why there will be a horse cure According to municipal expert H\u00e5vard Moe, there are several reasons for the financial horse cure many municipalities will have to go through in 2023. The first one we have to go back to the pandemic year 2020 to find. – The municipal sector as a whole came out of the pandemic well, because the state partially overcompensated the municipal sector’s expenses. At the same time, we saw a skewed distribution. Some municipalities, especially small municipalities in northern Norway, made money from the pandemic because they had lower costs for handling the pandemic than what the state compensated through the revenue system for the municipal sector. – I have worked with municipal finances for 20 years, but I cannot remember a budget autumn that has been so marked by crisis, says senior adviser H\u00e5vard Moe at KS-Konsulent. Photo: KS consultant Then came 2021. Moe explains that the tax reform that came that year meant that very many rich people adjusted their finances by taking out increased dividends in 2021. As a result, tax revenues for the municipal sector increased significantly. – Most municipalities have had a major restructuring need for a long time, but this has been masked by these extraordinarily high incomes. It’s not like there was a crisis now. The crisis has been there for a long time. And now comes the wave of the elderly. – You go from a pandemic economy to a tax economy to a war economy. Now it is high electricity prices, inflation and rising interest rates that apply, says Moe. This impacts directly on the expenditure side of the municipal economy. And adds: – Then we have the underlying demographic shift, which Bod\u00f8 is also facing. Bod\u00f8 must move a great deal of money from the upbringing sector to the nursing and care sector, because there will be 700 fewer children of compulsory school age and 2,300 more residents over the age of 80 in Bod\u00f8 over the next 10 years. The money must be moved to where it is needed, says Moe. – Offers may disappear According to psychologist Iris S\u00f8derholm, many of the current offers at the child and family unit in Bod\u00f8 will disappear. The unit consists of the health centre, school and migration health service, the occupational therapy and physiotherapy service, the mental health service and the educational psychological service (PPT). – At most we were four psychologists and five family therapists. This proposal means that there will be a maximum of three psychologists left. Among the proposed cuts are eight positions as mental health advisers. Utekontakten and Open Kindergarten are also proposed to be cut. Public health nurses and the midwifery service are also on the cut list. At the same time, S\u00f8derholm emphasizes that she understands that the municipality is in a difficult financial situation, and must save. Bod\u00f8 municipality has taken out large loans over the years. That makes the financial challenges extra difficult now. Photo: Therese Bergersen \/ news – It is still difficult to be able to support cuts that go beyond the population. Especially the vulnerable. A survey shows that one in three Norwegians has needed professional help in connection with mental health problems in the last two years. The main reason is toil and problems in everyday life, and it is the youngest who struggle the most. – After the pandemic, more and more people are struggling with poor mental health. Prioritizing children’s mental health is the very cornerstone of how we will be as a society in 20 years’ time. When the King, Maud Angelica and prime ministers all say that those who are having a hard time must seek help, says S\u00f8derholm. And adds: – Then you seek help, but then there is no one there. – Must make structural moves Municipal director Kjell Hugvik in Bod\u00f8 municipality is clear in his speech. Politicians must take structural measures to secure the municipal economy. Municipal director Kjell Hugvik has pulled out the cheese grater, and will put the municipal budget on a horse cure. At the same time, he sends a jab at the politicians. Photo: Per-Inge Johnsen \/ Per-Inge Johnsen – Throughout the year, we have put forward significant and comprehensive proposals for structural changes within the school, family and health area. They have been voted down by the city council. We have great respect for that, but that does not mean that the challenges disappear. – We have to turn on bigger switches, he says. In his presentation, the municipal director said that the administration has sought to protect the most vulnerable in the many cuts that are proposed. The biggest cuts are made within health and care in addition to upbringing and culture. – We are making operational adjustments for NOK 113 million. The biggest changes, or cuts, will take place in the education and culture area and health and care. They are the ones with the big budgets. – Dramatically antisocial – It is dramatically antisocial, I have never seen such an antisocial budget proposal. It is targeted at those who have it most difficult in society. That’s what Andreas Tymi (R) says. He reacts strongly to the municipal director’s budget proposal. – Every year we find room to create a social budget in Bod\u00f8 municipality, if you are willing to look at cuts that do not affect those who need the municipality the most, says R\u00f8dt politician Andreas Tymi. Photo: Synn\u00f8ve Sundby Fallmyr \/ news – My first thought is that these are extremely dramatic cuts for those who need the services from Bod\u00f8 municipality the most. While the capital of culture project, and everyone in business who wants it, get exactly what they ask for all the time, he says. Conservative mayoral candidate Odd-Emil Ingebrigtsen is not surprised by the horse cure the municipal director is proposing. – In Bod\u00f8, we have simply spent too much money over too many years. The municipal director’s message is that we must adapt the use of money to the economic realities. It is important to be told that Bod\u00f8 is a good city to live in.
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It is indisputable that conditions will be tight in Kommune-Norge next year. That’s what H\u00e5vard moe says, who is a senior consultant at KS Konsulent. – I have worked with municipal finances for 20 years, but I cannot remember a budget harvest that has been so marked by crisis. There will be a sea battle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2119,16,279,1340,9063],"class_list":["post-20208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-budget","tag-news","tag-nordland","tag-proposal","tag-unsocial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}