Pori parties seek to block cuts to books, youth activities and orchestra

Left-wing parties in Pori want to add nearly 200,000 euros to the city’s leisure budget to prevent cuts to books, youth activities and orchestra musicians, Yle reports.

Jyrki Levonen, chair of the leisure committee and a Social Democrat, said his party and the Left Alliance would propose the increase at the committee’s meeting on Wednesday. Their proposal would also protect some sports and youth-related purchases and grants, and prevent a planned two-week furlough for musicians in the Pori Sinfonietta orchestra.

Levonen said he was hopeful the proposal would win a majority, but it needs at least one more vote from another group on the committee.

The counterproposal would not reverse all the officials’ proposed savings. A proposed 20,000-euro cut to the Pori Sinfonietta’s concert budget would remain, and some vacant posts would be left unfilled.

On Tuesday, a majority of Pori’s education committee, made up of the Social Democrats, the Left Alliance and the Greens, opposed furloughs for school assistants and cuts affecting families with children and education services. The National Coalition Party had also said before the meeting that it opposed the furloughs.

Pori City Council is due to make the final decisions on all savings in early December. The committee votes suggest that the budget meeting may be more contentious than last year’s.