Tallinn City Council's budget adopted with €60 million increase

Tallinn City Council's budget will increase by €60 million next year after it was adopted on Thursday despite opposition from the Reform Party.
The 2020 budget will total €824 million.
Increasing education spending accounts for 40 percent of the budget, approximately €263 million, including government subsidies. Investments in the education sector are expected to amount to nearly €49 million, with a total of 13 schools and kindergarten renovations to begin next year, the city's press service said. More than €50 000 has been earmarked for the implementation of bullying prevention and intervention programs in schools.
Roads and streets will be repaired with a budget of €8 million, and increase of €3 million more than last year. In total, the city is contributing nearly €70 million to this area. The construction of light traffics and health trails will also continue.
Rehabilitation of parks and green areas has been allocated €3 million and the development of community-oriented agriculture in the districts will also continue.
One of the largest investment projects is the development of Tallinn City Theater, for which a total of €5.7 million has been allocated.
€1.5 million is planned for the construction of the Tallinn Zoo and €5.5 million for the Tallinn Botanical Gardens, which include the reconstruction of a palm house and large-scale construction of the economic building.
Nearly €2 million has been earmarked for support services for children with severe and profound disabilities, which will be partly covered by the savings on the closure of Tallinn Television as a free-to-air channel.
The opposition's proposal is to increase the monthly salary of kindergarten teacher assistants by €50 was also included. "Despite the fact that Tallinn has raised the wages of kindergarten teachers every year, their salary growth really should be faster. In this case, our understanding overlaps with the opposition's proposal and we are pleased to implement it jointly," said Tallinn Mayor Mikhail Kõlvart.
Nurses will receive a 20 percent payrise and the city will fund home nursing services for clients with chronic illness at home.
The Reform Party did not support the budget
Chairman of the Reform Party Faction Kristen Michal said the party voted against the budget because it does not reflect a number of key priorities for the future, such as switching to the Estonian language in kindergarten or abolishing kindergarten fees on September 1 next year.
Reform also proposed allocating funds from the Tallinn 2020 budget to move forward with the construction of new transport links and tramways in the capital.
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Editor: Helen Wright