Swedenistan : Municipalities cut basic services to offset large cost of taking in migrants

Eight out of ten municipalities in Sweden will be forced to slash funds used to finance basic public services to offset the high cost of taking in large numbers of welfare-dependent migrants.

The survey found that 46 percent of municipalities reported having plans to slash disability services, while half said that they would be forced to make serious spending cuts in individual and family care to save money, SVT Nyheter reports.

Göran Eriksson, the city manager for the municipality of Bengstfors, told SVT that his municipality wouldn’t be able to manage the increasing costs of social service and welfare programs without help from the federal government.

Bengstfors, facing a 2.4 million budget deficit, hopes to decrease that deficit by slashing social services and maintenance costs.

“The situation is strained, and we now are forced to take some effort after the council has decided on a new budget for 2020,” said Eriksson.

“I think there are two reasons. We have been generous and received many new arrivals, but basically, it is also a demographic problem. We have an aging population and the municipality is shrinking.”
To reduce expenses, state organizations responsible for migrant integration will merge with those centered around welfare and the labor market. Funds allocated to subsidize student healthcare and preschools will also be slashed. Street light usage is to be reduced by 20 percent and snow plowing will only occur when larger amounts of snow are on the road.

In August, Voice of Europe reported that officials from Bengstfors had reached out to the federal government for financial aid because the municipality was facing financial ruin because it had taken in too many welfare-dependent migrant.

Stig Bertilsson, a local politician for the center-right Moderate Party, explained the problem to reporters from SVT, saying: “Costs in municipalities that have received new arrivals have continued to be substantial even when government revenues have stopped. This creates a large negative hole in the municipal cash register.

Source : https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/11/sweden-municipalities-cut-basic-services-to-offset-large-cost-of-taking-in-migrants/