Espoo City Manager Kai Mykkänen has unveiled his first budget proposal featuring extensive new parking fees and increased stormwater charges. The plan aims to balance the city's finances by €70 million annually over the next four years.
Mykkänen wants parking fee zones around all metro and train stations, including street parking and parking garages. This would generate millions in additional revenue while supporting climate neutrality goals. He acknowledges this will spark discussion but questions why free parking should remain common in station areas when most large Finnish cities charge for parking.
The newly appointed city manager didn't mince words about former government colleagues. He criticized plans to cut Espoo's state funding by €60-70 million annually. Mykkänen stated this would double the city's adjustment needs.
"The government needs to wake up to the fact that Espoo isn't just an engineers' capital city with some money tank where you can grab €70 million annually without consequences," Mykkänen said in his budget presentation.
The message carries particular weight since Mykkänen served in government just last year. He admitted the funding calculations sometimes keep him awake at night.
"Yes, I sometimes have trouble sleeping in the early morning hours," Mykkänen revealed. "The monsters become more concrete then than in daylight, and this has been on my mind too."
He expressed frustration that many parliament members view taxing Espoo by €70 million as more beneficial than problematic. Mykkänen emphasized the city has no "money pump" to withdraw funds from.
If the state funding reform proceeds as proposed, Espoo would need to cut services from schoolchildren or neutralize government tax cuts by raising municipal taxes. This would affect the very skilled workers the government wants to activate for more creative work.
When asked about potential income tax increases in Espoo, Mykkänen didn't rule it out. He noted city strategy requires competitive taxes compared to other large cities but said this doesn't preclude increases.
The budget proposal also includes minor cuts to urban environment services and some street investments being put on ice. Mykkänen suggested additional administrative cuts through organizational reforms, with change negotiations and possible layoffs ahead.
Education receives the largest portion of the €2.4 billion total budget. The city wants to maintain so-called "Espoo hours" - extra mother tongue and mathematics lessons not included in the national curriculum. Espoo needs to hire about fifty new teachers for Finnish-language comprehensive schools alone next year, plus replace retiring staff. Daycares require over hundred new employees.
Mykkänen's straightforward approach to Espoo's financial challenges reflects practical governance rather than political positioning, though his criticism of former colleagues adds personal tension to the budgetary process.