The Auditing Board of the City of Tampere published its evaluation report for the year 2025. The annual evaluation report deals with the performance of the city and the achievement of the objectives of the city and its subsidiaries. In 2025, the city achieved just over 53 percent of its targets, while the targets set for its subsidiaries were achieved by 71 percent.
– The city is in a difficult financial situation. The difficult employment situation is reducing city revenues, increasing expenditures and the city has no quick fixes to turn the situation around. We must continue to balance the budget, but at the same time we must take into account the need to meet the targets set by the council, says Mikko Aaltonen, Chairman of the Auditing Board.
The new strategy period started at the beginning of 2026. According to the Auditing Board's evaluation report, the 2022-2025 strategy fulfilled its role very well in setting the direction and objectives for the city's development. The annual targets for the four-year strategy period were also well met, with 57 percent of the targets achieved.
The Auditing Board considers that the overall set of budgetary objectives is good, but that some objectives should be more specific.
– The Auditing Board, elected at the beginning of the mandate, noted that the set of annual objectives is sound, but that there were some ambiguities. The committee has had to ignore such targets. The objectives must be clearly stated in the budget, says Chairman Aaltonen.
According to the evaluation report, Tampere-Pirkkala air connections in 2025 were dependent on network connections via Riga, so long-term route development work is needed. Businesses would also need connections to other European air hubs, such as Copenhagen or Stockholm.
Businesses also mentioned that there is room for improvement in the customer orientation of detailed planning. They expect the detailed planning process to provide, among other things, smooth interaction and information on the preconditions of the process and the timetable. According to the evaluation report, several measures have already been taken to improve customer orientation in the city's detailed planning and further improvements are needed in the future.
The well-being development programme was originally planned to be implemented between 2024 and 2027, but was suspended at the end of 2025. The objectives were set out in general terms in the programme plan, making it difficult to assess the short-term impact of the programme. The most visible output of the programme was a series of experiments for the benefit of local citizens. The remaining tasks of the programme will be continued, at least to some extent, in the All Tampere Development Programme, which will start in 2026.
The evaluation report also covered the achievement of the annual objectives of the subsidiaries Tampere City Transport Ltd and Tredu-Kiinteistöt Oy. Both subsidiaries had a customer satisfaction target. According to the survey results, customer satisfaction at Tampere City Transport Ltd was at a good level. Tredu-Kiinteistöt Oy's objective to start measuring customer satisfaction was achieved, but the number of responses to the surveys was too low to draw comprehensive conclusions. In the future, efforts should be made to increase the response rate.
The Auditing Board and the evaluation report are part of the City's statutory activities. In Tampere, the Auditing Board has 12 members. The Committee meets a few times a month and most evaluations relate to the implementation of the objectives of the city's strategy. The committee invites the persons responsible for the evaluation subjects to be heard at its meetings. The committee preparers also interview other key people to bring out different perspectives.
The evaluation report of the Auditing Board of the City of Tampere is published on the website www.tampere.fi/arviointikertomus. The City Council will discuss the evaluation report at its meeting on 18 May 2026.
