The message is clear.
"Move to Lemvig," reads the side of the yellow bus making its way through the busy morning traffic in Aarhus. Here there is "more time for what matters," the advertisement tells us, accompanied by the image of a small, blond boy running through knee-high grass with a smile.
In addition to classic newspaper and magazine ads, the campaign also includes an entire website and videos for TV2 Play and social media, where rosé-drinking couples on a quiet beach contrast with those who cannot sleep because of the city noise.
The municipality cannot disclose the cost, but perhaps that in itself is a point.
Maybe the price isn't important. Maybe they need new residents, whatever the cost.
Lemvig is the municipality – apart from island municipalities – where the proportion of residents of working age has shrunk the most in recent years. A crucial demographic group when it comes to tax revenue and the foundation of the entire municipal economy.
- It means an indescribable amount, says Mayor Jens Lønberg from the Conservative People's Party.
There is 'more time for what matters' in Lemvig, the municipality's advertisement says, aiming to attract new residents. This is a difficult exercise for several municipalities, but in others, they come on their own – in droves. (© Superego)
This is not the first time he has tried to raise the alarm (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/folketingsvalg/fodboldholdene-her-afsloerer-et-problem-der-nu-faar-borgmestre-til-raabe-op). But so far, the response has not been great, even though the problem is only growing.
- If we didn't have equalisation, it simply couldn't work, says Jens Lønberg, referring to the system that redistributes money between all the country's municipalities. And he points to the paradox of the problem:
- The tax base from those who earn money in our municipality is relatively large. It just doesn't help much when there aren't very many of them.
> This is a development that hits particularly hard in rural municipalities.
According to the recently concluded budget agreement in the municipality, the settlement effort is "more important than ever" following the closure of FMC Rønland – formerly Cheminova, and the situation in the West Jutland municipality is far from unique.
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Large contrasts
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Bornholm, Lolland, Tønder, Struer and Odsherred fall into the same category, and from here the contrast is great with the municipalities that continuously welcome new residents who put more into the municipal coffers than they take out.
Things are moving fast in the housing market in Høje Taastrup. Real estate agent Jan Isaksen from Home can confirm that.
They come almost so easily to Høje Taastrup on the edge of Greater Copenhagen that the question here instead is about which homes to build to get as much out of the influx as possible, says Mayor Michael Ziegler (K).
- We get more resourceful people to our municipality. We also get a higher income level, and that's good. It's good for the municipal coffers now, and it is also in the long term, he says.
Aimed at, among others, his party colleague from Lemvig, Michael Ziegler adds, however:
- Then there is, of course, the twist that when things go better, there is also a strong equalisation between municipalities, which means you don't get the full benefit of it yourself.
Nevertheless, the working-age population has grown almost explosively in Høje Taastrup over the past six years.
The figure for how many residents of working age are in a municipality can be used to determine the potential for tax revenue – and which municipalities are suddenly lacking.
If you ask the analysis manager at Realdania, Henrik Mahncke, the figures for the past few years reveal how "the big wheel" is becoming more and more unbalanced in certain parts of the country.
Conversely, the development has been favourable for municipalities within manageable distance of the larger cities' growth centres, he points out.
- You have a cycle in municipalities where there are probably expenses for children, but then follows a long phase in adult life where you give back. And then you draw on the coffers again when you get older, he explains.
- So far, the imbalance continues as young people head for the big cities, says Henrik Mahncke.
> What this entire migration movement results in is that the difference between
> urban and rural municipalities becomes greater.
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Hits hard
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The uneven distribution of working-age people is linked to a number of other things – for example, that we are willing to commute longer and longer to work, which makes suburban municipalities popular, as you can still get back and forth to your job in the city.
At the same time, the development is reinforced by a falling birth rate and an ageing population further away from the big cities.
- This is a development that hits particularly hard in rural municipalities, states senior researcher at Aalborg University, Helle Nørgaard.
The director of the Housing Economic Knowledge Centre, Curt Liliegreen, reaches the same conclusion.
- What this entire migration movement results in is that the difference between urban and rural municipalities becomes greater, he says.
Every time each of us chooses where to live, we shift the economic balance a little.
- It has very great significance, emphasises Curt Liliegreen, who, in addition to tax revenue, links migration patterns to potential gains in the housing market and the spillover economic activity in communities.
- It is a process that will become self-reinforcing, he says.
Over 400 jobs are disappearing from Lemvig Municipality with the closure of the controversial FMC Rønland factory, formerly known as Cheminova. But there is potential for many more, says the mayor.
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Jobs are missing
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In Lemvig, Mayor Jens Lønberg is frustrated, pointing out how things are otherwise going well in his municipality if you measure unemployment, sick leave and citizens' quality of life. He can even observe how local children who move to the big city for an education seek to return home.
- But when they want to come back, the jobs aren't there, he says.
The key is jobs, his analysis goes, and one must understand from the mayor that there could easily be more of them in his municipality if it weren't for legislation he cannot clear out of the way himself.
Just a couple of days after the interview, however, the government announces that a reckoning is on the way (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/politik/hjaelp-fra-regeringen-boevl-og-regler-maa-ikke-stoppe-lokale-ildsjaele) with the hassle and rules that hinder development in rural districts – the ones Jens Lønberg points to.
> There is no reason for celebratory speeches about this. But the intention should not
> be dismissed.
He responds afterwards over a phone connection and calls it "a positive message."
But that is also because he chooses a constructive approach – to believe that the seriousness has dawned on Christiansborg, and that this is a start – albeit a tentative start, he emphasises.
- There is no reason for celebratory speeches about this. But the intention should not be dismissed, he says.
How good is your municipality? (https://www.dr.dk/feature/hvor-god-er-din-kommune)
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