Espoo is buying company cars worth four million euros for staff entitled to a car benefit while the city hunts for savings elsewhere, Länsiväylä reported.
An official decision by the city's logistics director Kari Sirviö states that 40 to 50 full electric cars will be acquired over four years. They are E-segment, upper middle class cars, and the decision also allows executive class vehicles. Espoo requested bids on the Audi Q6 e-tron Quattro, Audi A6 Avant e-tron, BMW iX 50 xDrive, Mercedes-Benz CLA 250+ AMG, Mercedes-Benz GLC 400 4MATIC, Volvo EX60 P10 AWD Plus and Skoda Enyaq Coupe 85x 4x4 RS.
Sirviö tells Yle the decision concerns the regular competitive tendering and renewal of a contract made every four years. Managers have had car benefits in their employment contracts since 2008. The city has 30 leasing cars and that number is not growing.
"Car contracts are mainly three years, so one person can get two cars during the contract period. That's why the number of cars in the contract is 40 to 50," he says.
Sirviö says the city actually spends about two million euros on cars over the four-year contract period. Espoo received bids from five companies and will acquire the vehicles from Secto Automotive Oy.
The chairs of Espoo's three largest council groups question the purchase. Green group chair Mikki Kauste says it looks grotesque when several people are being made redundant from libraries. "If you put these things side by side, it looks bad and contradictory to the outside," Kauste says.
Coalition chair Emma-Stina Vehmanen says the matter raises questions in a tight economic situation and the decision must still go through the city board. "If a car benefit has been agreed in management's employment contract, then there can be justification for this type of procurement, but when we have to save on many things, it's clear that such procurements and costs must now be looked at carefully," she says. SDP chair Juri Aaltonen calls the timing poor.
"It does look bad when at the same time the city has just finished co-determination negotiations that lead to redundancies," he says.
Espoo said just over a week ago that it will cut 140 people after the negotiations, 80 of them through redundancies. Another 60 jobs will end by 2029, partly through retirement. The city aims for about 7.3 million euros in personnel cost savings next year.