During the Thursday press conference, the Minister of Local Government and Modernization, Nikolai Astrup, will present proposals of activities addressed to the municipal sector.
- We will defend the communes. This will be offset by additional expenses and lower revenues as a result of the corona virus pandemic, says the Minister of Local Government and Modernization Nikolai Astrup.
A working group made up of representatives of the SC and several ministries recently presented an interim report on municipal finances in the aftermath of the pandemic.
The proposals are based on the calculations of the working group, says Astrup.
The government proposes to allocate NOK 2021 billion in the first half of 7,3 to compensation for Norwegian municipalities. Additional allocations for municipalities were officially presented on November 6 in the form of the so-called An addition to next year's state budget.
The money is distributed as follows:
- NOK 5,9 billion for municipalities.
- 4,4 billion is reported as an increased subsidy to the population
- NOK 1,5 billion is distributed as discretionary funds.
- In addition, communes receive 321 million NOK from the framework grant for positions related to compliance with regulations relating to events, restaurants and employees.
- NOK 950 million goes to county municipalities through increased discretionary subsidies to cover lost ticket revenues on public transport. Reduced dental fees and additional expenditure on upper secondary education.
- The government is also proposing NOK 100 million. To make more people could exercise their adult right to school secondary school.
At the same time, Astrup says it was difficult to get a sense of how much of the pandemic The corona virus has cost tons of municipalities. The working group will deal with this by August next year.
The largest single item of expenditure that is not surprisingly is the health and care sector, to which NOK 4,7 billion is allocated. The school, out-of-school, and pre-school sectors are traded with an additional bill of 2,3 billion.
A total of extra costs and losses incomes of communes amounts to NOK 17,5 billion, but at the same time the municipal sector has reduced employers' contributions and reduced wage and price increases - a total of NOK 8,7 billion, as shown by the KS calculations.
As the figures are based on accounting data up to September this year, KS did not take into account the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in recent weeks in its calculations. Thus, the total need for compensation from the municipal sector may be even greater.
Melby: School must be a priority
Education Minister Guri Melby (V) is clearly calling for schools to be given priority when more money is now donated to municipalities.
- If the kindergarten teacher is sick and needs to stay at home, an alternate must be appointed. Don't cut back on schools to save money on corona virus funds, Melby said.
- We all agree that the crisis should not harm the education of children and youth. In this case, schools and kindergartens must have priority at local level when allocating money at national level. She also said children and adolescents should receive a large share of that additional seven billion by 2021.
