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From the Olympics Toward Tomorrow
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Tight finances
- Facility upkeep requires 'additional expense'
"Can't the lights inside the tunnel be turned off during the day?"
"Can't we change the lights to the underground pedestrian tunnel into a switched system?"
Meetings to form the 1997 Hakuba Village budget started two months earlier than normal in October 1996, in preparation for upcoming FIS World Cup test events, which will continue through March. Village employees were taking great care to reduce expenses in time for the early-December official Mayoral Assessment.
The Olympic Shinden Line forest road connects the cross-country training area with Happoh District. The Prefecture, which spent approximately 1.9 billion yen ($16.5 million US) in constructing the 854m road, will upon completion this summer hand over its care to the village. Lighting costs for the 180m tunnel during the latter half of the year are expected to reach approximately 1 million yen ($8,700 US). The Village attempted to target it for expenditure reductions but has had to avoid cuts due to safety concerns.
Hakuba Village was focused on constructing venues and roads when Nagano was chosen in June 1991 to host next year's Winter Olympic Games. After that the village's budget swelled to that of a small city. General account expenditures in 1995 broke through the 11 billion yen mark. 1996 revised general account expenditures totaled more than 10.4 billion yen.
"In just a few years we have completed 20 years worth of projects," says Hakuba Village Mayor Nobuyuki Fukushima. But the current financial situation is a grave one. On top of carrying out these large projects, upkeep for Olympic-related facilities and repayment of the enormous amount of public bonds are inviting high costs.
Discussion lags at a Hakuba Village meeting last December as Mayor Nobuyuki Fukushima answers a question on how Olympic finances will be managed.
For example, let's look at the forest road leading to the goal area at the downhill venue and farm road connecting with the cross-country site. These both were built by the Prefecture and will be passed on to the village's care, but because parts of each road has "road heating" de-icing equipment installed, the village will be responsible for paying the electricity bill, an amount adding up to approximately 10 million yen ($87,000 US).
"Additional expenditure hurts," says one Village government employee. The original plan was to hold the downhill events at Shiga Kogen (in Yamanouchimachi, Shimotakai County), but because of heightened environmental concern the site was moved to Happoh-one. Add to this the expense of laying down new race courses and snow machine facilities at Happoh and the cost (including what the Prefecture is paying for) climbs to 90 million yen ($783,000 US) in added expenditure.
During the Olympic bidding stage the village did not expect to have to pay for the cost of test events. The total amount for the village's four upcoming World Cup test events alone comes to roughly 10% of it annual tax revenues, roughly 223 million yen ($1.94 million US).
General account expenditures in fiscal year 1991 (April 1991- March 1992) totaled 4.5 billion yen ($39.1 million US). In four years current figures have surged to 2.4 times that amount due to the Olympics, tossing financial managers. Village Mayor Fukushima agonized over answering several general questions at a village council meeting. "The details of our financial situation have all been passed on to the Prefecture. I think they will give us some assistance."
What will become of the village's financial situation? It has still not fully decided on the new fiscal year's budget. However, the 7 billion yen cross-country venue will be completed this year, and along with the reconstruction of Hakuba Middle School, next year a decrease of some hundred million yen is expected compared with this year's budget.
In contrast the public bond total repayment figure is expected this year to reach 11.1 billion yen ($96.5 million US). In a village with 9,200 people that comes to a debt burden of approximately 1.2 million yen per capita ($10,435 US). 2002 will see a peak in the repayment schedule of 1.1 billion yen ($9.57 million US).
Another general question was asked at last December's village council meeting. An assembly member pressed the issue of village responsibility for World Cup events with a comment: "This surpasses the our financial know-how." But the discussion did not move on to deal with how to deal with these finances after the Games are finished. Five other assembly members brought up these types of general questions.
"Neither do the village citizens nor the village council yet know how the financial situation will turn out. In two or three years we will begin to realize that there are no new projects in the works, and then we will know the real truth. That's what I'm afraid of," vented one local government employee.
"On top of being short-staffed, finances are quite tight. We would like to suspend new projects in the next fiscal year," announced Village Mayor Fukushima at the Village Roundtable Discussion last October 28 to all 28 village district heads. "No new projects."
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Copyright 1999 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun