City council leader says more cuts are ahead

mbl.is reports that Björg Magnúsdóttir, president of the city council and Viðreisn’s leading candidate in the city, says her party’s council group unanimously supports efficiency measures approved by the city council executive committee on Tuesday.

“This is something we talked about extensively before the election and during the campaign: simplifying the administrative structure, making it more efficient and removing long chains of command. This is exactly what we said we would do,” Björg told mbl.is.

She said city employees had worked intensively in recent weeks and months to develop the proposals.

“This is something we all stand behind,” she said.

Pétur Marteinsson, leader of the Social Democratic Alliance in the city, criticised the process on Tuesday, saying the matter had been pushed through to prevent discussion. Björg rejected that criticism.

“That is simply not correct. The matter will be on the city council’s agenda on September 8, as he knows very well. He attended meetings yesterday where that was made clear,” she said.

Björg said the proposals could not have been discussed in open council meetings because they involved possible dismissals.

“It is not possible to discuss possible dismissals and similar matters at open meetings. That obviously has to happen in closed meetings, so I find it strange to present it that way,” she said.

According to Björg, the proposals are based on two years of analysis. Department heads and staff were also closely involved in the work during the summer.

“It has not escaped the employees in these departments that something was being planned this summer. Now it is ready, and I think it is also honest to present it,” she said.

She added that further measures were likely.

“We said we would turn over every stone within the city administration, and that is what we are doing,” Björg said.

The efficiency group has a two-year mandate, she said, and there was a great deal to address in efforts to restructure the city’s operations.

“We are not touching frontline services, the people in yellow vests and that kind of work. We are talking about the large central administration, and there is more ahead. That is simply the honest answer,” she said.

Björg said the aim was to make the city’s finances sustainable, reduce its debt burden and avoid paying large sums in interest and other financial costs every year.

“That is one of our major goals. We intend to achieve results in this area,” she said.