Launch of Guggenheim project would cost nearly 5 million

Jussi Pajunen

print this

Helsinki Mayor Jussi Pajunen (Nat. Coalition Party) is proposing adding EUR 3.7 million to the city’s budget for the launch of the Guggenheim museum project. He also proposes that the EUR 1.2 million price tag of the project’s architectural competition should be financed through the city’s development funds.
      This would mean that Helsinki taxpayers would have to pay nearly EUR 5 million at the outset if Pajunen’s proposal is accepted by the City Board and the City Council.
      By way of comparison, Helsinki’s annual arts budget amounts to about EUR 3.7 million.
     
A draft proposal on the matter acquired by Helsingin Sanomat states that the City of Helsinki would pay the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation EUR 890,000 for expert services.
      In addition, the city would put up more than EUR 1.6 million for licence fees for the foundation.
     
Last week as he was putting forward the Guggenheim study, Pajunen emphasised that the licence fees would come out of private funding. Now he wants to earmark municipal funds for this purpose.
      Pajunen explains that the move is temporary. “When private financing becomes available, the money will be paid back to the city”, Pajunen explains.
      “The reason for this is that we will set up a foundation for colleting external funding, and this will take several months.”
     
Pajunen estimates that about EUR 500,000 will be needed for the establishment of a Guggenheim Helsinki Foundation, which would run the actual museum.
      In addition to the EUR 3.6 million, the City of Helsinki calculates that it would need an immediate EUR 100,000 for the establishment of a company to run the actual museum building.
     
The EUR 1.2 million in Pajunen’s draft for the architectural competition already exists, says City Board chairman Risto Rautava (Nat. Coalition Party).
      “Usually a certain sum of money is set aside for use by the City Board for expenses that are not known when the budget is drafted.”
      Pajunen also denies that development money has been diverted from anywhere else to the Guggenheim project. He also promises that the extra expenditure will not lead to additional borrowing, or cuts in other municipal spending.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Guggenheim contract to include cancellation fine (17.1.2012)
  Opponents of Guggenheim gather forces (17.1.2012)
  Prime Minister sees Guggenheim museum as an investment for 100 years (13.1.2012)
  Report says Guggenheim museum could bring millions on tax revenues (12.1.2012)

Helsingin Sanomat