Oslo City Hall, Oslo | Cutter for higher parking fees:

OSLO RÅDHUS (Nettavisen Økonomi): Oslo’s red-green city hall on Wednesday presented the budget proposal for 2021. Here, the city council will, among other things, cut schools and care for the elderly, which conservatives believe will hurt.

But the city council will also increase resident parking fees by 50 percent. The Liberal Party city council group leader, Hallstein Bjercke, reacts strongly to this.

– Yes, I think it seems to be a very unwise way to increase parking fees, because it makes it relatively more expensive for Oslo residents to park in Oslo than for commuters. Resident parking increases by 50 percent, while the city council increases foreign parking and the hourly rate by 25 percent, Bjercke tells Nettavisen.

Read also: ODM for the environmental war against the “party of the highway” Left: – Absolutely incredible

Very antisocial

He says it seems like a very antisocial way of doing this. Bjercke believes that people who have their own parking lot, like him, will not notice this tax increase.

– But those who depend on parking on the street will be greatly affected. Resident parking is an important scheme for the city, but it is the districts that decide if they want it. I’m afraid more districts will say no to having a resident parking scheme, says Bjercke.

The Councilor for the Environment and Transport Agency, Lan Marie Berg (ODM), defends the increase saying that it should be more expensive to use a fossil car than it should be to use zero-emission cars.

– Now we increase the distance and generally make it a bit more expensive to have a car in Oslo, because they take up valuable space, he tells Nettavisen.

Also read: Oslo City Council wants a ban on fossil cars in parts of Oslo

Socially

– Do you think resident parking is a social tax?

– The scheme is precisely a social tax, because it helps those who need space to park in the city, obtain space to park, and that we distribute the areas differently. The most important thing we can do for social equality in the transport sector is to make sure that it is the best possible to drive public transport.

– What new areas will have parking for residents?

– What we are now expanding is the resident parking fee, but the areas are something that the districts decide for themselves, responds the city council.

Explanations

Hallstein Bjercke is also concerned that climate emissions in Oslo are increasing, while they are decreasing nationally. I was expecting a budget from the city council that would reduce emissions, and they don’t do it in this budget.

– Do you have any explanation why climate emissions are increasing in Oslo?

– The main explanation is that the city council has many explanations. There is a great distance between what the city council says they should do and what they actually do in climate policy. That distance is getting bigger and bigger, answers the group leader.

He points out that the council itself in this budget says that they will not reach their 2020 emission reduction goal. According to Bjercke, they are further than ever before reaching the 2030 goal.

– An example that this distance only gets bigger, we have a very clear example from today when Lan Marie Berg comes out in the media and says that in some parts of Oslo it will be forbidden to drive a fossil car. If you read the budget, it actually says that Berg will ask the Urban Environment Agency for two years to report on this.

Also read: Climate activists stuck together: – Spoiled mobs

No profit

Hallstein Bjercke says we won’t see these zones for many years, and they don’t provide an emissions gain in the climate budget.

– Climate emissions are not reduced by talking about the town hall. They must implement measures, Bjercke demands.

Faced with criticism, Berg responds that what they are starting now is a large study to investigate how and the installation in the zero emission zones in Oslo.

– But have you thought about how these zones should be implemented in a practical way?

– This is exactly what the Urban Environment Agency has been commissioned to investigate. It is clear that it is difficult to introduce something like this in Oslo, but it is absolutely necessary if we want to make Oslo a zero emissions city.

Conversion

– Do emissions go down just because there are some emission-free zones?

– If it turns out that it is not possible to drive in parts of Oslo, it is clear that it means something for the restructuring of the car fleet along with other measures, responds the environmental agency. She lists tolls, parking fees, and land use.

– All these instruments must be used together if we are to achieve the zero emissions target. Zero emission zones are an important part of it, because it will help restructure the entire car fleet, Berg says.

– Does the Liberal Party claim that there are only big words with you in environmental policy and point out that emissions are going up?

– The reason for this is that emissions from construction sites in Oslo were higher after the Norwegian Environment Agency changed its calculations. Eighty per cent of construction works in Oslo are private, and there the Liberal Party should find its own door, Berg says.

Also read: Parent rebellion against MDG-Lan: – Now you have to wake up

Great action

Bjercke commends the city council for proposing fossil-free building sites in the future.

– Huge measures that will have a good effect, he says, but has more in mind. Bjercke responds that the city council in the uncertain times of the crown proposes an increase in tax revenue in 2021.

– I’m very skeptical about that. He expected tax revenue in 2021 to decline. They did this the last time we had a crisis in Norway. In Oslo, it often happens that tax revenues follow the stock market, and that happens the following year.

– I was surprised by your tax estimates, says Bjercke.

Councilor Raymond Johansen (The Labor Party said at a press conference on Wednesday that it is difficult to say how big the loss of revenue will be as a result of the crown pandemic.

Great uncertainty

– The state has promised compensation, but there is much, much uncertainty about what the compensation will be, said the city council leader.

– Are you willing to cut something if the municipality of Oslo does not receive the state revenue it expects?

– Yes we should. We have to offer a balanced budget. It is already a demanding budget, and during the planning period there are a number of efficiency requirements, among others, directed at the districts, so we will see what it will be.

– Is there a heart problem that is not relevant to cutting?

– There are many regulatory tasks related to the care of children and the elderly that we have to perform. Then there should be less in the tasks that are not required by law, responds the leader of the city council.

But when it comes to investments, Johansen says they are very important in keeping the wheels moving. Unemployment has taken hold and he believes it can be our contribution to keep people working.

Ultimatum

If the city council wants to get ahead with the budget, the Red Party is the one they must trust the most. The deputy of the City Council, Eivor Evenrud, says that the disappointment in the budget is that the city council says they want to eliminate the “ordinary rent” in municipal housing. Now the city council will reintroduce this lease from January 1, 2021.

– It is a slap, not mainly for me, but for the people of the municipal housing. Another thing is that the neighborhoods are struggling. It is still a pandemic and will continue in 2021. The city council proposes to cut quite massively in the districts, Evenrud tells Nettavisen.

– Don’t you understand this in light of the corona pandemic?

– Yes, but it is not as bad as thought, and they propose to set aside 2 billion in a provision for the crown. This basically means that districts get a very small budget and a kind of big money bag with the promise that you can get more.

– But is the Red City Council the one that should be supported to carry out the budget?

– I think so, we have an agreement that we first talk about the budget, is the answer.