A city for everyone

Here you can read the report of Haugesund Venstre group leader, Mette Lothe, on her budget presented to the city council on Wednesday 6.12.23.

Venstre's vision for Haugesund is to create a city that accommodates everyone, a city where we take responsibility for each other and for the environment.

The Liberal Party is pleased that all political parties see the need to cap the power to reduce climate emissions. The municipality aims to reduce climate emissions by 55 percent by 2030, and we have a long way to go here.

Making municipal buildings more efficient, reducing investment in new buildings, upgrading machinery, more maintenance and more climate-related measures, in the climate plan, can ensure we reach our emissions reduction targets.

school

Venstre prioritizes schools and will ensure that schools have a better chance of giving all children the best possible foundation. We are working to increase the number of social counselors and/or environmental therapists to meet the schools’ desire to provide more hands and help students who are struggling. In addition, we are working to increase investments in schools and the surrounding area in general.

“Something has to happen in Vibrandsøy,” the Left said in 2022. Something has happened, but we must continue to nurture and develop Vibrandsøy.

The Liberal Party wants modern, selective care for the elderly. We are living longer, but we are not getting better health in the last stage of life. Planning for the future of elderly care must start now and requires investment in the coming years, which means we must hold back on other investments now.

Venstre believes it is important that all children have the same opportunity to engage in leisure activities and facilities, independent of their parents' income, and thinks we should look at the leisure card scheme again.

long-term

This is the first budget process I have participated in on City Council.

But fortunately, Fenster has been working on the same principles for years, regardless of whether we are in opposition or in position.

1. We have to be conservative about tax estimates and the framework. This means that we listen to the mayor. This is because we will not spend money that we are not completely sure we will get. And we do not cut ties without knowing enough about the consequences.
2. We must be constrained in investing in new buildings to ensure that we can provide good services in the buildings.
3. We need long-term insurance, so that we don't use all the money today, but have room to work so that we can develop social care services in the future.

budget

The City Manager's budget proposal is tight, and all potential “buffers” are included in the budget. We are far from meeting many of our financial goals. Not least of all, our loan debt will be much higher than the City Council unanimously approved.

The minority has used potential reserves that lie in tax assessments, framework grants, and more. There are no reserves.

In the previous budget, the Liberal Party said, “With the proposal of the majority parties, the loan debt will increase significantly and the consequences are increased costs that must be taken out of operation.”

We wanted then, and now, to postpone some investment projects. To reduce the municipality’s debt so that it can complete the investments that have begun and to provide opportunities for necessary investments in the future.

Venstre will ensure space for work so that it can provide good well-being for all city residents now and in the future.

Cultural School

The cultural school plays an important role in this work. Haugesund has been in the bottom ten for several years in the “children’s culture” measurements. Don’t get me wrong, the staff at the cultural school are skilled. This has to do with the content, the breadth and the commitment of the municipality.

The central part of the cultural school is being renovated and it is clearly a legal responsibility, as a cultural school, to have good facilities in the centre of Haugesund. Haugesund has more than sports to take care of.

Through the thematic plan for culture, sport and volunteering, the city council unanimously agreed that the cultural school should have a main school and other teaching places throughout the municipality. It is also indicated that the Festiviteten and other buildings should have specific parts of the operation and capacity allocated to the cultural school. At the same time, communication opportunities for the cultural school will be created in the library, cultural and district centers. We would like to know more about the follow-up to this before final decisions are made on the construction of the future cultural school. At the same time, the youth team must return to Karmøy to find training rooms, which they pay dearly for. This is not acceptable.

We see Finstree's concerns about emptying municipal reserves and investing more than 100% of the municipality's investment budget as causing exactly the challenges and potential cuts to the municipality's operating budget that we feared.

The Liberal Party takes this seriously, and will work for a healthier economy in this budget and in the future.

Thanks