Taxes|Vantaa is facing numerous historically large investments, such as a new light rail.
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The mayor of Vantaa, Pekka Timonen, proposes maintaining the municipal tax at 6.4 percent.
The city council will decide on the matter in November, but the proposal will probably be approved.
Vantaa’s economy is burdened by a slow recovery, a collapse in construction and large investments.
The biggest investments are the light rail, the Elmo swimming pool and the Tikkurila competence campus.
Vantaa mayor Pekka Timonen suggests that the municipal tax will remain at 6.4 percent next year, even though the city is rapidly getting into debt.
The city council will finally decide on the municipal tax in November. However, it is likely that the proposal will be implemented, as politicians rarely increase the municipal tax on the eve of elections. Municipal elections will be held next spring.
Vantaa’s economy is strained by, among other things, the slow recovery from the economic recession, the collapse of construction and several historically large investments.
According to Timonen’s budget proposal announced on Monday, the city’s total operating income next year is estimated at 369 million euros, and operating expenses are just under one and a half billion.
The result for the financial year is expected to be almost EUR 50 million in loss.
One one of the biggest investments is the new light rail, which Vantaa decided to build last year.
The state covers 30 percent of the costs of building the Vantaa trolley. The light rail is estimated to start operating in 2029.
The money also goes to, for example, Elmo’s swimming pool, Tikkurila’s competence campus, Vehkala’s vocational school and the construction of new smoke saunas in Kuusijärvi.
In addition, the city will repair the main building of the Håkansböle manor and five schools.
Operating expenses will be increased by the road reform coming into force at the turn of the year. It increases municipalities’ responsibility for unemployment benefits, and at the same time a significant amount of personnel is transferred from the state to the municipalities.
Changes can also be seen in the library network, when the city opens its first library in a shopping center. The Pointi library operating at Vantaa International School in Kartanonkoski is moving to Jumbo.
Construction the levy reduces the income from land sales to Vantaa and can slow down the growth of the population.
The population of Vantaa is predicted to grow by more than four thousand inhabitants this year. In August, the population of Vantaa exceeded 250,000 inhabitants.
The number of completed apartments is expected to remain at around one thousand apartments, while in previous years more than three thousand apartments were completed in Vantaa per year.
The increase in unemployment, on the other hand, restrains tax revenues and increases expenditures. In July, the unemployment rate in Vantaa was more than 13 percent.
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