Vantaa city manager Pekka Timonen's budget proposal, published on Monday, has won support from the biggest groups on the city council while drawing sharp criticism from smaller ones. Kokoomus welcomes above all that Timonen proposes no tax increases for next year, according to Yle.
Group chair Heli Hakala said other balancing measures should be reviewed and continued first. "The Kokoomus group has considered it important that we don't start by looking at taxes," she said. She agrees with Timonen that the city's hardest financial phase is behind but says a balanced economy is still some way off.
The group seeks no extra funding for any target and wants income to grow instead.
SDP chair Soile Eriksson called the proposal a step in the right direction. "The group's goal is to get the city's economy into balance. The budget proposal presented by the city manager promotes this goal," she said.
She noted that Vantaa's difficult unemployment situation still weighs heavily, with the construction slowdown visible in the figures. She said education and teaching services must also be secured in future.
Greens chair Tia Seppänen also called the proposal broadly right-directioned but said her group opposes continuous cuts and wants decisions based on impact assessments, especially for children and young people. She named energy efficiency in city properties and less frequent mowing as easy savings.
Left Alliance chair Antero Eerola called it "a big disappointment," saying the budget rests on large layoffs. "The municipal tax rate could have been raised moderately and perhaps temporarily, even by just half a percentage point," he said. He rejected Timonen's claim that the worst is over, citing mass unemployment nearing 1990s recession levels.
Layoffs gathered about 11 million euros in savings while the council granted 16 million euros more this autumn for passive unemployment management, he said. "So we produce more unemployed people finance unemployment. There's no sense in this."
Finns Party councillor Tanja Aidanjuuri said the city manager's very positive visions do not fully hold. "We have rather difficult times ahead. She wants the heaviest savings taken from Vantaa's own leadership, with the organisation reorganised and duties combined because there are too many managers. Her party wants more money for schools.