From time to time, municipalities experience receiving large monetary gifts from wealthy residents, be they private individuals or companies. This comes in handy when municipal politicians struggle to make ends meet.
Tysnes municipality in Vestland county is, so to speak, among the “lucky ones”. Salmon billionaire Gerhard Meidell Alsaker is offering to give NOK 40 million for a new swimming pool in the municipality, but he has also set several conditions.
One condition is that the pool be built in the small home village of Onarheim, and not in the town of Våge 20 minutes away – where today’s 50-year-old and worn-out pool is located. The new swimming pool will cost around NOK 150 million, and NOK 40 million will thus be a welcome addition.
We are coming dangerously close to corruption.
Donations of money to public buildings and services are by no means unproblematic. Firstly, the municipalities should be financially self-sufficient and thus not be dependent on alms. After all, we pay tax to, among other things, finance the operation of our municipalities. Secondly, it becomes very problematic if the donor sets conditions for giving the gift.
And the Tysnes gift is precisely in the last category. The politicians in the municipality are almost forced to build the new swimming pool in the village of Onarheim. The alternative is to lose NOK 40 million. It should be mentioned that a location at Onarheim, according to Alsaker Fjordbruk, will provide the fastest possible realization of the plans.
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Mayor Synnøve Bakke (Ap) will not comment on the location of the new swimming pool for the time being. “The gift of money is also something we will consider, but the location is not only dependent on the gift,” she says to NRK. She therefore wants to have as open and transparent a process as possible.
The Center Party’s Arne Leite should be praised for taking a critical stance and characterizing the conditions as challenging. “I think there is a real danger that some politicians will be influenced by it,” says Leite. On this point, there is clearly a need for clearer guidelines in the municipalities.
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It is a sign of illness when the public sector becomes dependent on donations from citizens and businesses. It gets extra bad when conditions are set for such monetary gifts. In effect, the people’s government is then set aside. Democracy suffers when rich people can buy a certain outcome in a political matter. We are coming dangerously close to corruption.
Current politicians must therefore make it clear that they will not allow themselves to be dictated to by wealthy citizens. It takes a strong back to carry good days, says a well-known expression. The back should be extra strong in tight times. Politicians must be able to say a principled no to gifts where unreasonable conditions are set. This is a price worth paying. Democracy is not for sale.
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