Hildur wants Reykjavík to cut its city council to 15 members

Reykjavík Mayor Hildur Björnsdóttir wants to reduce the city council from 23 members to 15, saying the move could save the city at least 125 million krónur a year, according to mbl.is.

In an article in Morgunblaðið’s Sunday edition, Björnsdóttir writes about efforts to reduce Reykjavík’s costs and says elected officials should consider cutting their own costs as part of that work. She estimates the proposed reduction could save about 500 million krónur over a council term.

The number of council members rose from 15 to 23 in 2018. The main arguments for the increase were population growth and the expanding responsibilities of local authorities, Björnsdóttir says.

After eight years with the larger council, she argues, residents are no better served. She says politics has not improved and council work has not become more efficient. In her view, the increase has instead spread responsibility more thinly, led to more party lists and made it harder to form governing coalitions.

All 23 council members receive full salaries from the city, while the first seven deputy members also receive fixed pay, she notes. Björnsdóttir says the arrangement is unusual compared with other municipalities in Iceland and similar cities abroad.

She argues that reducing the council could both save money and strengthen elected representatives’ mandate while making the council more effective.

On 6 October, Reykjavík City Council approved a request asking Alþingi, Iceland’s parliament, to allow municipalities to decide how many elected representatives sit on their councils. Björnsdóttir says two bills on the issue are already before parliament.

The Independence Party has long sought the authority for Reykjavík City Council to set its own membership. It opposed the increase before it took effect in 2018 and has repeatedly proposed changing the law. Similar proposals were rejected by the city council in December 2019 and in 2022 and 2025.