The City of Vantaa is looking to cut around 200 jobs, while Espoo is aiming to shed the equivalent of 300 full-time positions.File photo of Vantaa city hall. Image: Matti Myller / YleYle News7:15The cities of Vantaa and Espoo have announced the beginning of restructuring talks with staff representatives, which could lead to hundreds of redundancies.Both cities have, in principle, excluded teaching and childcare staff from the negotiations.In Vantaa, the city is seeking savings of 15 million euros, which could lead to about 200 job cuts. In addition to redundancies, the need to balance the city's books could also see some staff temporarily laid off or have their working hours reduced.According to the city board, Vantaa has been running a deficit for several years, with projections suggesting it will exceed 60 million euros this year and approach 70 million next year.Therefore, the city's statement said, significant measures are required.Espoo making cuts despite surplusIn Espoo, the city says it needs to reduce staff numbers by the equivalent of no more than 300 full-time positions. The aim is to cut annual personnel costs by around 10 million euros.The city also plans to reduce personnel costs through measures such as early retirements and employees voluntarily moving to other positions.The planned cuts have raised questions because Espoo’s finances are currently in surplus.Mayor Kai Mykkänen (NCP) said the staff reductions are necessary to stop the city’s debt-per-resident ratio from increasing. He noted that last year’s surplus is not enough to cover the city’s long-term investments.The number of children and young people in Espoo is growing and the city is building 20 schools and daycare centres this year, Mykkänen noted. This is in addition to the city's costly rail line project.Mykkänen further added that the state has also cut central government transfers to municipalities and their share of corporate tax revenue, creating a need to find tens of millions of euros in additional savings.