“Naturally, we are talking about shit,” says Ingimar Ingimarsson, member of the executive committee for Hafnarfjörður. The community has been trying to get Garðarbær to pay for the use of the Hafnarfjörður sewage system for the past five years, but to no avail.

A retail park which belongs to Garðabær situated on the foothills of Hafnarfjörður, has been using the system, placing it under considerable strain according to Ingimar. IKEA is amongst those stores in the park connected to the Hafnarfjörður system.

It was at long last agreed at a Garðabær council meeting that the mayor of Garðabær should discuss the issue of paying off past costs for using the system with the mayor of Hafnarfjörður, and come to an agreement on continued cooperation.

Asked whether the matter should be in the hands of civil servants, rather than the mayors themselves, Ingimar said that the civil servant route had already been tried out.

The costs which are being discussed total about 20 million krónur, “if they are fully paid”, adds Ingimar. Exactly how much the citizens of Garðabær ought to pay towards the 4 billion krónur sewage system is widely disputed.

Ingimar says that in addition to this, Garðabær council has billed companies in the area for using the system, without Hafnarfjörður council being aware.

“We have had this item on the agenda many times,” says Ingimar, meaning to say that the committee members have become extremely irritated by this issue, having brought it up repeatedly with the Garðarbær committee.

“At the end of the day, Garðabær residents are going to the the toilet at the expense of those who live in Hafnarfjörður,” Ingimar said about this long-lasting bone of contention between the communities. The dispute continues.

Source: visir.is
Image: lakelife

Labels: Garðabær, Hafnarfjörður, Politics

The Social Democratic Party is maintaining a lead of 46.1% of voters, according to an opinion poll conducted by the party in the community of Hafnarfjörður. The Independence Party came in second with 33.6% of voter support, followed by 17.9% for the Left Greens. The Progressive Party tailed the procession with 2.4% voter support. If these were the results of the election, the Social Democrats would win five seats, the Independence Party four and the Left Greens two.

Asked about the position of chairman of the district council, 68% of Hafnarfjörður residents said that they wanted Lúðvík Geirsson to remain in his position as mayor of Hafnarfjörður, according to a press release from the Social Democrats. He is in sixth place on the list of candidates for the party in Hafnarfjörður and would therefore not win the mayoral election, and according to the poll the majority has all but disappeared in the town. The Social Democrats currently hold six of the eleven available seats.

As the situation stands, 69% of residents would prefer to delay debt repayments rather than cutting back on welfare services.

The social sciences department of the University of Iceland conducted the poll for the Social Democratic Party over the period of the 3rd–12th May 2010. Respondents could choose any of the chairmen of the parties who are running in Hafnarfjörður that they wanted for the position of mayor in the upcoming election. Valdimar Svavarsson (17%), Guðrún Ágústa Guðmundsdóttir (9%) and Valdimar Sigurjónsson (1%) came behind Lúðvík Geirsson in the mayoral opinion poll. Approximately 5% of respondents chose someone else.

Source: mbl.is

Labels: Hafnarfjörður, Politics