– The situation is very challenging. We are a tanker on the way to Robek list. If we want to avoid that, we have to make cuts now.
County municipality director Toril Hovdenak describes the financial situation in Møre and Romsdal county municipality.
It is very rare that county municipalities end up on the Robek list. Not since 2006 has a county municipality been on this, according to the Ministry of Local Government and Districts.
Hovdenak has no doubts about what is at stake. It will be very tight in the coming years.
– We stand with our backs against the wall. There is no other county council that is in such a demanding situation as us. We are far from where we should be.
Worst in the country
Møre og Romsdal has by far the highest loan debt of all the county municipalities in the country. In fact, it is almost twice as high as the average, figures from Statistics Norway show.
Møre and Romsdal also have the lowest net operating profit among the county councils in the country, and is also the county council that has spent the least amount of money on it disposition fund.
And NOK 140 million of the money in the fund has already been burned by 2024. If the fund is emptied, Møre and Romsdal County Council will not have anything extra to deposit if an unexpected problem arises.
The county politicians were served hard liquor during the briefing on the financial situation in Møre og Romsdal county municipality.
Photo: Trond Vestre / NRK
– It is completely out of the question
The county director proposed a general cut of one percent. She also wanted to charge for the ferries that the government had made free ferries, and increase the price of the other ferry connections.
The majority of politicians have recently said no to that. In addition, they wanted to reopen ferry departures that had been cut. And they wanted to spend NOK 50 million more to improve the county roads in Møre and Romsdal.
In sum, this means that NOK 90 million will be moved to transport in 2024. That money must be obtained from other areas. In 2024, 35 man-years will disappear.
And it doesn’t stop in 2024. In the next few years, Møre and Romsdal county council must save NOK 150 million annually.
But proposing a cut in the ferry service is very unpopular in Møre og Romsdal.
– It is completely out of the question. We cannot have a case every four months where we change previous decisions. This is a decision that the politicians have made, and we must govern according to that in the county council, says the leader of the transport committee Hans Olav Myklebust (Frp).
A shared responsibility
The politicians squirm in their chairs, but they see the seriousness. We have a shared responsibility and must stand in this together, says Torgeir Dahl (H).
– If we are not able to see that we have found ourselves in a very difficult situation then we are not ready to take this responsibility. Now the county council must take responsibility so that we do not crash completely.
Torgeir Dahl (H) believes that politicians must show responsibility in a difficult economic situation.
Photo: Trond Vestre / NRK
And in the transport committee on Tuesday, Dahl received support from Geir Ove Leite (Ap).
– All the cost-driving projects that we have adopted have long been unanimous or done with a clear majority, so everyone has a responsibility here.
Opens for increased ticket prices
Now the tug-of-war starts over where the cuts will come, and it is not certain that the FRP will bring the other parties with whom they have formed a majority in the county council.
In Høgre, Torgeir Dahl admits that the ticket price may increase.
– We went to the polls on the fact that we had to be able to increase the ferry prices. We thought this was a remedy that could be resorted to.
But the youth are also restless. Many of them use the bus. Those under 25 can travel cheaper by bus through the discount scheme FRAM Ung
But now the price of this offer can be increased by 20 percent. They are sad if that happens, says Kasper Dalhaug in the Youth Panel in Møre og Romsdal.
– It is not certain that income will increase if it leads to fewer people taking the bus. And for those with poor finances, it will be more difficult to get home. It also does not fit in well with the ambition to become the number one sustainability county.
