Tallinn's City Budget Grows by €20 Million
Tallinn City Council approved a 19.5-million-euro supplementary budget on Thursday, increasing the city's budget to 522 million for 2014.
Mayor Edgar Savisaar, who faces a no-confidence vote soon for the alleged use of taxpayer funds for political campaigning, said public transport (3.8 million euros), education (a 12 percent pay rise for kindergarten teaching staff) and social welfare (a sauna in Lasnamäe and renovations to a dormitory) will receive additional funding.
He said the official population of Tallinn has grown by 6,700 in the past year and people's incomes have increased by 6.6 percent. Local governments rake in 11.4 percent of the residents' incomes.
The figures mean an additional 6.5 million euros for the city budget, with 4.3 million coming in additional aid and 5 million euros brought over from the 2012 and 2013 budgets. Savisaar said the city's loans are in check, and at about 52 percent of the annual income. The legal cap is 60 percent.
The city has raked in 46 percent of the planned budget for the year in the first five months.
Tartu, Estonia's second city, passed a 4-million-euro supplementary budget at the of May while the fifth largest city, Kohtla-Järve, is in the midst of a budget crisis, and could be 1.2 million euros in the red by the end of the year.