Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.11.2018, Qupperneq 14
14 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 20— 2018
In a capitalist society, budget deficits
are a common part of government
expenditure. Projects slated for next
year go beyond the allocated funds of
the current year, year after year, but this
is usually not cause for alarm, so long
as the missing revenue can be made
up for in a timely manner. However,
a scandal that has struck the City of
Reykjavík, making Mayor Dagur B.
Eggertsson’s position vulnerable, sheds
light on spending practices within the
city that are not only avoidable, but also
take money away from far more crucial
projects.
The tipping point
To understand how this happens, it is
important to understand how Reykjavík
handles many municipal projects. Not
everything is managed by the city and
brought into being by city workers;
some projects are contracted out to
private entities, with the city footing
the bill. While in theory, this should save
money in terms of the number of city
workers to employ, in practice, it often
means the city gets milked for millions
of krónur beyond the agreed budget.
Last month, it came to light that
renovations of a WWII-era bunker
at Nauthólsvík went over budget by a
whopping 257 million ISK; the agree-
ment with the city was to abide a
budget of 158 million ISK. When the
invoices came in, however, the grand
total was 415 million ISK—with over
3.3 million ISK of that spent on design
alone.
"First of all, I don't understand why
we even got involved in this project in
the first place,” Independence Party
councilperson Eyþór Arnalds told the
Grapevine. “There's no need for the
city to do this. Second, the agreement
was too uneconomical for the city, as
it put all the risk on the city. I think
that's in general not OK."
Eyþór, who was the frontrunner
against Dagur during municipal elec-
tions earlier this year, raised the point
that this overspending is especially
egregious when one considers all the
areas under the city’s power that are
in dire need for improvement.
"We need money for our play-
schools,” he says. “People who have
made numerous formal remarks to
City Council that the playschools need
more staff. Social apartments need
repairs and renovations, we need
more money for food for the elderly.
There's no money for that." The city
majority, Eyþór believes, has not paid
enough attention to these issues.
In power too long
Vigdís Hauksdóttir, a councilperson
for the Centre Party and also a member
of the city council opposition, believes
the siuation is a natural result of being
in power for too long. The Social
Democrats, from where Dagur hails,
were a party of the council majority
when comedian and writer Jón Gnarr
was elected mayor in 2010. Dagur has
been mayor since 2014.
“These people have sat too long in City
Hall,” she says. “When a
majority is in power for
more than eight years,
then the corruption
begins. That's when
people start thinking,
'I own this, I can do
as I please.' They miss
their connection with
the people."
Dóra Björt Guðjóns-
dóttir, a councilperson
for the Pirate Party
and a member of the
majority coalition,
makes no bones about
the importance of the
issue, which she sees as
a kind of wake-up call.
“ I t i s e x t r e m e l y
important that we don’t mess around
with public funds, that the budget aims
stand, and that our system works as it
should,” she told Grapevine, admitting
that the case does undermine public
trust in the majority. She believes that
reforming the system by increasing
its transparency could go a long way
in restoring that trust.
The straw that broke the
camel’s back
When the story about the Nauthólsvík
bunker first broke, Eyþór told report-
ers that he believed Dagur ought to
resign. When asked if he is still of this
opinion, he clarified his position.
"I am of the opinion that [Dagur]
shouldn't be the managing director for
the city,” he explained. “I'm not saying
he shouldn't be a councilperson; he was
elected to that position. But it seems to
me it hasn't gone well to have Dagur as
managing director. A mayor is a manag-
ing director, and in this case, something
went wrong. This is just my opinion
that people bear responsibility for their
actions. There's an incredible amount
that went wrong."
T h e b u n k e r
case, as Eyþór tells
it, was simply “the
straw that broke
the camel’s back.”
Doing it right
Vigdís believes
that preventing
overspending on
city projects is a
daunting task, but
not an impossible
one. When asked
what she would do
differently if she
were mayor, she
told us: “I would do
a general audit of all city projects. Going
over all the books, see where it's possible
to save money, turn off this faucet of
corruption which is obviously open. It
would take something like two to three
months to do this, with the right people.
Put all contracting projects up for public
advertisement."
In the meantime, Dagur has emphat-
ically stated that he will not be resigning
over this matter. While it is unlikely that
the city council majority will collapse
over this issue, Reykjavík may be over-
due for some much-needed soul search-
ing going forward.
The Money Faucet:
Overspending In
Reykjavík City Council
A systemic problem that needs addressing
Would you spend 415 million ISK for this?
Independence Party head for Reykjavík City Council Eyþór Arnalds
Words:
Andie Fontaine
Photos:
Art Bicnick
“When a majority is
in power for more
than eight years,
then the corrup-
tion begins. That's
when people start
thinking, 'I own
this, I can do as I
please.' They miss
their connection
with the people.”