Key investments in Mayor Daniel Sazonov’s budget proposal target comprehensive school education, children’s and young people's literacy, a sense of community in Helsinki’s neighbourhoods and swift access to primary healthcare. Taxes will not be raised.
A library in every school, a thousand neighbourhood events across the city and more doctors and nurses
The budget proposal provides funding to reduce calculated class size in the first years of comprehensive education, increase the number of lessons in the language of instruction in schools, and expand needs-based funding for the entire academic year. The budget proposal also allocates resources for school libraries, ensuring that every school in Helsinki would have at least a well-stocked reference library on site. Additional funding is also proposed for printed learning materials and the Education Division's core funding.
"Next year’s budget will focus on children and young people in particular. With this proposal, I intend to ensure that all children and young people will acquire a strong command of basic knowledge and skills during their school journey. We are specifically focusing on strengthening literacy. As a new initiative, we are launching a new project to bolster the city’s network of school libraries,” Mayor Sazonov said.
To promote grassroots urban culture, the budget proposal introduces a new type of grant for supporting neighbourhood events. The grant will facilitate the creation of a thousand new neighbourhood events envisioned to take place in 2027– 2028. The grant will be administered through the city’s Participation Fund.
"This is a concrete step aimed at increasing the number of events that foster a sense of community in our neighbourhoods. I hope this investment will encourage Helsinki’s residents to create new events and activities that bring people together, alongside the long-standing traditional neighbourhood events that already exist,” the Mayor said.
Helsinki has set a target of 14 days for access to healthcare. To achieve this objective, the city plans to increase its number of doctors and nurses. The budget proposal for 2027 provides for the recruitment of another 25 doctors and 13 nurses. These new positions are in addition to the 52 doctor posts and 71 nursing posts that had already been approved. The roll-out of the personal doctor and independent practitioner models will progress from the decision-making stage to practical implementation in 2027. The independent practitioner model will be piloted by 10 self-employed personal doctors and 10 personal nurses.
The budget proposal also allocates funding for public transport that will keep Helsinki Region Transport (HSL) ticket price increases lower than originally planned, ensuring that the real cost of tickets does not rise. In 2027, Helsinki will spend EUR 470 million on public transport, an increase of 14.7 per cent on 2026, when adjusted for comparability.
Tax rates remain unchanged
The proposal states that the 2027 municipal tax rate in Helsinki will be 5.3 per cent. Residents’ real estate taxes will remain at the minimum level permitted by the law. The standard real estate tax rate for land will stand at 1.3 per cent, while for buildings it will be 0.93 per cent. The tax rate for permanent residential properties is proposed at 0.41 per cent, while the tax rate for other residential properties will be 0.93 per cent. Under the proposal, the tax rate for undeveloped building plots will be 4.30 per cent, and the tax rate for power stations will be 3.10 per cent.
"Our City Strategy committed to no increases in municipal income taxes or real estate taxes. I feel it is important that we also look after the purchasing power of our residents. The city’s finances must be managed responsibly and sustainably, so that we can continue to operate in this manner in the future,” the Mayor continued.
Helsinki Mayor’s budget proposal in figures
The proposal would see Municipal Helsinki’s external expenditure rise to EUR 3.62 billion. The budget proposal estimates 2027’s operating revenue at 1.4 billion and tax revenue at around 2 billion. Central government transfers are estimated to be EUR 510 million. The city’s annual margin will decrease to 441 million. After accounting for depreciation and impairments, the city’s result will stand at EUR 25 million.
The Mayor’s budget proposal has been drawn up in accordance with the Helsinki City Strategy’s sustainability principle. The increase in operating expenditure is based on both a rise in the price index for basic services and population growth, minus a one-percentage-point productivity improvement requirement. The productivity improvement requirement does not apply to core services of the Education Division or Culture and Leisure Division.
The finances of the Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division are governed by the principle of state funding, meaning that services are funded through both funding allocated to Helsinki by the central government and the Division’s own revenue.
The Mayor’s 2027 budget proposal, broken down by administrative division, is as follows:
The Education Division’s operational expenses will increase by 4.4 per cent from the year prior to approximately EUR 1.78 billion.
The Urban Environment Division comprises several distinct binding budget items. In total, the Division's operating revenues are set to increase by 2.3 per cent to EUR 1.44 billion, while operating expenses will rise by 6.1 per cent to EUR 1.26 billion.
The operating deficit for the Culture and Leisure Division is projected to increase by 5 per cent on 2026, to EUR 312 million.
Central Administration expenditures will grow by 0.6 per cent to EUR 529 million. In addition to the City Executive Office’s expenses, Helsinki’s Central Administration covers such items as the municipal liability for payment of unemployment benefits, the costs of procuring employment services, as well as various grants, compensations and operating funds.
The City Executive Office’s expenditure will decrease by 0.6 per cent on the previous year, falling to EUR 169 million.
Allocations for employment-related measures in Helsinki covers the provision of employment services and the liability for payment of unemployment benefits. These allocations will increase by 5.4 per cent on the previous year, reaching EUR 252.6 million.
Operating expenses in the city’s Social Services, Health Care and Rescue Services Division will increase by 4.8 per cent on the previous year, and the total operating expenditure level will reach approximately EUR 3.45 billion. State funding for the Division is estimated to come in at EUR 3.185 billion, with 2027 operating revenues projected at EUR 289 million.
Internal transfers have not been eliminated from the expenditure figures when broken down by administrative division in this way. Due to the transfer of responsibilities between the city’s administrative divisions and changes to the budget line items, not all budgetary entries are directly comparable to the previous year.
Expenditure on public transport is set to see an exceptionally sharp increase in 2027. Various budget line items in the budget proposal relating to public transport have been consolidated into a single new line item for public transport. Expenditure on public transport is set to rise by EUR 63 million, representing a comparable year-on-year increase of 14.7 per cent. Total expenditure under the public transport budget item amounts to EUR 470 million.
Helsinki is making extensive investments in services and infrastructure
Helsinki will carry out a high level of investment in 2027. Investments proposed to be made directly by the city, together with those made in Helsinki by the city-owned Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd, would total EUR 1,242 million.
Due to this high level of investment and a declining operating margin, cash flow from operations and capital expenditure will show a deficit of EUR 786 million, and the ratio of capital expenditure financed from operating profits will stand at 36 per cent.
Noteworthy building projects under construction include the Jätkäsaari Sports Centre, the Service Block of Kruunuvuorenranta, a new multi-purpose building to house the Pitäjänmäki Comprehensive School, Library and Youth Centre, and the Myllypuro Health and Wellbeing Centre.
Substantial investments to public transport are also proposed for 2027. Major projects during the financial planning period include the renewal of the Junatie Metro bridge, the renovation of the Central Railway Station’s Metro stop, development of a new tram depot in Koskela and the construction of the West-Helsinki Light Rail lines.
On 19 October 2026, Mayor Daniel Sazonov presented his 2027 budget proposal to Helsinki’s political groups, thereby launching the city’s budget negotiations. Once the negotiations have concluded, the City of Helsinki will announce the outcome. The timing of this announcement will be specified later.
During the month of November, the budget proposal will move first to the City Board and then to the City Council for consideration. You can follow the progress of the budget on the City of Helsinki’s website pages: /www.hel.fi/en/decision-making/strategy-economy/budget. The Mayor’s 19 October 2026 press conference will be livestreamed at noon on Helsinki Channel www.helsinkikanava.fi/en.(Link leads to external service) A recording will be made available on the service at a later date, with subtitles in Finnish, Swedish and English.