I don't know where to start this post, so I figure I'll just write it as it happened, as it seems to be the most sensible place.
I went to the football pitch earlier to help the clean up after winter; picking up branches and making a pile. Things were fun and it was nice to see so many people from the village out helping. It was basically refreshing, that as a small community, people come out and help. It's one of the best things about living in Bygdsiljum.
Anyway, towards the end of my time helping (had to leave early to get the girl), I was told that our one and only cleaning company in the village didn't get the cleaning contract at our local school, the one managed by Skellefteå kommun and the one they're trying to close.
My immediate reaction was one of actual surprise, after all they're based in the village, quite literally within walking distance of the school and I know that this would quite possibly have created another job for the Bygdsiljum company and quite likely, for someone in the village.
And with Lorents Burman coming to Bygdsiljum next week to talk to local business about the future of business in the village, I thought this must have been a mistake as it fits in exactly with the Bygdsiljum vision, to get more people to move here and also that of the kommun, to have 80,000 people living in the kommun by 2030.
So I asked why they didn't win and while nobody knew the exact reason, the general thinking was price. The other company was cheaper. I left it by saying I was surprised and continued with my work.
Five minutes later, after picking up more branches, I was told that the company that won the contract to clean a school in Skellefteå kommun is actually from Umeå. I was no longer surprised, I went to a state of what can only be described as shock.
Umeå is another kommun. If you're based in Umeå you pay tax to Umeå kommun, not Skellefteå kommun. To get from Umeå to Bygdsiljum you have to drive and it's a lot more than a ten minute drive down the road.
So what Skellefteå kommun have done is actually say to everyone in Bygdsiljum that they think the tax paid by the residents of Bygdsiljum (partly for the school), is actually better spent in Umeå kommun. What they're actually saying to everyone in Skellefteå is something I maybe shouldn't write.
The irony and I hope this wont be lost on you, is that this action is actually costing more money, even if the invoice paid each month is less. The tax money (business and personal) is leaving Skellefteå kommun and there is now no extra person working in Bygdsiljum, paying their tax to Skellefteå kommun. Worse still, the business revenue isn't going to be as high so less tax to Skellefteå all round and more to Umeå.
The icing on the cake is that it's indirectly increasing the cost of running the school that they're trying to close because it's too expensive.
It's just short sighted, a bit like the wind turbine issue but I'm sure it's going to make that meeting next week a little more interesting.
