Analysis of the finances of the Borough of Hafnarfjörður

At the town council meeting currently underway, the mayor, Haraldur L. Haraldsson, presented a report on an analysis of the finances of the Borough of Hafnarfjörður.  The report, prepared by the mayor, is an analysis of the overall operations and finances of the City of Hafnarfjörður for the period from 2002 to 2014.

The report states that the financial situation of the Municipality of Hafnarfjörður is twofold. On the one hand, there is an operational problem, where the operating surplus before irregular revenues was negative seven times in the last 13 years for Section A, and six times for Sections A and B combined. Since 2008, there has been a deficit for four years and a surplus for three years. However, there is a debt problem, as the municipality's debt amounted to 202% of income at the end of 2014, and the debt ratio was 176%.

According to the new Local Government Act, the town council has until the end of 2021 to bring the debt ratio down below 150%. It is therefore clear that the town council, staff and residents of the Borough of Hafnarfjörður face a challenging task, on which it is important to achieve the best possible consensus without this leading to a reduction in services.