“The costs will be reimbursed as they have been fully realized,” said Krista Kiuru (sd), Minister of Family and Basic Services.
Government has reached an agreement on how the costs of the corona will be reimbursed to the municipalities.
Grants totaling € 1.1-1.2 billion, Minister of Family and Basic Services Krista Kiuru (sd) said at a news conference on Friday.
“A pretty big sum,” he noted.
“The costs will be reimbursed as they have been fully realized,” Kiuru said.
The grant will be awarded in particular for testing, tracing, vaccination and treatment.
The government is not making a new law, but the money will be distributed through a government decree and the application of the State Aid Act.
Originally the government was to distribute about 900 million euros in actual support and 80 million euros in discretionary support. In the opinion round, the municipalities knocked the proposal too small.
After several weeks of negotiations, the government agreed to increase funding by a couple of hundred million euros. It was the most difficult to raise compensation for the center leading the Ministries of Finance.
Read more: The government is now wringing its hand over how much more interest compensation should be paid to municipalities
The Association of Finnish Municipalities is satisfied with the new model. CEO of the Association of Finnish Municipalities Minna Karhunen says the presentation is very different from the original draft regulation.
“It was quite a bottom line,” he says.
“Overall, this new one is good. There are some items that are too small, but there is also this resident-based calculation and discretionary support that compensates, ”says Karhunen.
“This is an amazingly good performance.”
Costs is reimbursed as government grants mainly on a imputed basis, not so that the ministry pays the bills against receipts.
The grant is determined by multiplying, for example, the amount of testing performed in the municipality by the unit fee set out in the regulation.
Minister Kiuru reiterated on several occasions that the costs would be fully shared.
This means that the costs of treating the epidemic will be fully covered at national level.
Kiurun According to him, an attempt is made to avoid overcompensation, but it can arise if the municipality has been able to provide services at a lower price than the unit compensation.
Municipalities can also apply for a population-based imputed item to cover other direct costs of the corona, such as increased use of protective equipment and increased health and safety requirements.
Approximately EUR 170 million of the total compensation has been set aside for this. EUR 930 million has been set aside to finance testing, tracing and vaccination organized by municipalities.
Municipalities also have the option of applying for a discretionary contribution, which makes it possible to increase the amount of the grant if the compensation determined by the calculation principles does not provide sufficient compensation. This amounts to EUR 80 million.
Government justifies compensation in the event of an exceptional pandemic, even though the measures themselves are legally the responsibility of the municipalities for their organization and costs.
In addition to municipalities, grants are awarded to hospital districts. Associations of municipalities to which the municipality has delegated its organizational responsibility may also apply for a grant if the municipality transfers the right to apply to them.
This year Among other things, the state has increased state contributions by at least 300 million euros and increased the share of corporate tax in favor of municipalities by about 550 million euros.
In addition, the money has been directed to specific destinations, such as hospital districts and border health security.
Last year, the state supported municipalities with a total of 2.63 billion euros. In addition, subsidies were granted for, among other things, education, training and culture, as well as public transport.
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