Tallinn city budget unlikely to be ready before end of 2025
The Tallinn coalition agreement between the Center Party and Isamaa is essentially ready but will not be presented until the end of the week. The convening of the City Council will thus be postponed until the beginning of December, meaning 2026's city budget is not likely to be adopted this year.
According to Center Party negotiator Monika Haukanõmm, both parties have more aims and plans than the city budget can actually accommodate. Despite attempts to resolve the main issues this week, Haukanõmm doubts the budget will be adopted before the end of the year.
"The budget has two readings, but unfortunately there are not that many days and weeks left before Christmas, so I fear it will be left until the beginning of next year. However, that in itself is not a problem," said Haukanõmm.
"It is good practice to always adopt the budget by the end of December of the previous year, i.e. before Christmas, but this is not the first time it will have been adopted at the beginning of a year."
Center Party Chair Mihhail Kõlvart also noted that it is customary in Tallinn to approve the budget in December, but added that other municipalities tend to do so later. "Essentially, this is not a problem, as it will be done by March," he added.
According to Kõlvart, the coalition agreement could be signed as early as the end of the week. Shortly before that, the various positions will be distributed. Riina Solman, Isamaa's leader in Tallinn, said her party have ideas about who to put where, but nothing definite has been decided yet. Uncertainty continues to surround Isamaa's mayoral candidate.
"Different people have different visions of this process. There is [Party Chair Urmas] Reinsalu's shortlist, and there is definitely a favorite. The same goes for this case: we have talked to and are talking to several candidates, but we definitely want to choose one figure, a prominent, important figure," Solman said.
According to Solman, there will likely be fewer deputy mayor positions in the new council, though she preferred not to say whether they will be divided equally among the parties. The Center Party believes it would have no difficulty filling those roles.
"Of course, the Center Party has its own concept, but since we have not yet discussed it with our partners, we have nothing to comment on today," Kõlvart said.
Kõlvart does consider it an issue that Isamaa's mayoral candidate has not been involved in the negotiations.
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Editor: Michael Cole, Valner Väino
Source: "Aktuaalne Kaamera"
