Thursday’s decision in the municipal council is a crisis for Søvika. The majority constellation Sp, INP, SV, KrF and Frp’s decision to protect the kindergartens on Lepsøya and Longva, and to approve a completely new kindergarten on Hildre, means that Søvika will lose either the school or the kindergarten.
“It must be predictable and safe for families with children to live in and move to Haram. We will do what we can to counteract the declining number of children in the years to come. It is important to have stable offers in order to create confidence in the future and a desire to live in the whole municipality,” began the Center Party’s proposal for a new kindergarten and school structure.
It clearly only applied to Hildre and Nordøyene, because now the ax hangs over the heads of the betrayers and the rest of the municipality’s children and youth services.
Because with listed Lepsøya and Longva kindergartens, and with nearly doubled expenses on a new private kindergarten in Hildre, the municipal director must go looking for opportunities to cut elsewhere. The only ones he can do anything about are the public daycare facilities, and then only Haramsøy daycare, Søvika daycare and Tennfjord daycare remain.
With the move from Utigarden to Grytastranda, there are only two kindergartens left in the municipality’s only villages with population growth, so he does not want to touch Tennfjord kindergarten. For the municipal director, Haramsøy and Søvika will thus remain. He probably still hopes to collect more kindergartens on Haramsøy, so he probably won’t do anything about it, and then only Søvika kindergarten remains.
Because even if we were served a stipulated deficit of NOK 22 million at the start of the meeting, and clear marching orders to save and not spend more money, the Center Party’s proposal could cost Haram municipality very dearly. According to figures presented at the municipal council meeting, a kindergarten in the current premises at Hildre would cost approximately NOK 3 million per year – a newly built one could cost NOK 6.5 million per year.
By opening Longva to more children, without closing another, the cost of the municipal daycares on the islands will rise by over NOK 1.5 million. In addition, the Center Party, INP, SV and FrP will have newly established after-school care at Longva nursery school and Lepsøya nursery school, instead of using the benefits for the children to meet at the same after-care center at the same school. The money that should have been saved at Haramsøya school just runs out.
After his eagerness to emphasize that “We in the Center Party pursue practical politics and talk to and listen to people”, the Center Party’s group leader forgets to listen to anyone other than his core voters in Hildre and Nordøyane, and the rest of the municipality is now suffering badly for it: Søvika can lose their kindergarten, the other kindergartens and schools on the mainland will have major cuts in operations.
44.5 per cent voted for the Center Party on the islands at the last election. 81 days into the new municipality, the Center Party has already broken its promises of no changes to the school structure on the islands, and in addition they have created chaos for schools and kindergartens on the mainland.
The property tax will be increased by 1 per thousand per thousand this autumn and a further 1 per thousand per thousand next year due to Thursday’s center party proposal – a doubling of a tax that all the parties wanted removed before the election. And INP, SV, KrF and FrP allowed themselves to be tricked into joining this – understand it those who can.
