Tallinn City Government‘s 2025 budget shows a lack of vision. It is a campaign budget aimed at increasing wages and benefits, but followed by tax increases and cuts. According to the Center Party, this repeats the pattern before the Riigikogu elections and does not consider the long-term interests of the city.
Chairman of the Center Party and former mayor of Tallinn Michael Kolvart criticism of the budget of the capital, saying that it clearly shows that the political parties in power in the capital have no vision and responsibility. “Basically, it’s the same management system as Toompea, and people really don’t care. In the name of the election campaign, they are even ready to damage the city’s financial situation,” said Kõlvart.
“The Toompea coalition, led by the Minister of Education and Science, promised a salary increase for teachers, but the money for this is taken from the pockets of the people of Tallinn. The socialists started the general care reform in the country, but to guarantee a place in a nursing home for a pension, funding is now done at the expense of municipalities, including the budget of the city of Tallinn. In addition, the state will raise taxes and Tallinn taxpayers will have to compensate for it,” said the chairman of the Center Party.
“The Center Party’s proposal to offer free kindergarten places to families in Tallinn during the crisis was rejected. Instead, it was decided to reduce the cost of a kindergarten place by 20 euros per month. However, it is not at all easy to understand how Tallinn’s budget intends to compensate the increase in land tax for some property owners,” continued Mihhail Kõlvart.
“Basically, it is planned to finance the local government election campaign with loan money, which means an additional financial burden for the city. If loans were taken for investments earlier, under the leadership of the Center Party, the current municipal government will take loans for the election campaign,” explained Kõlvart. He said that although Tallinn’s financial situation was stable for several years before, whatever is happening in the country, now we see how the country’s economy is damaged and Tallinn’s financial stability is being undermined.
“When they came to power in Tallinn, new solutions were promised, but in reality more than half a year has passed without the coalition being able to create anything new. The best they can do is to continue with the previous city government projects. In addition, they have tried to implement political projects, but they have not been implemented very smoothly,” said the former mayor of Tallinn. He said that the earlier warning from the Center Party has been come true – the same coalition as Toompea is now trying to cover the obligations and commitments of the state from the capital budget.
