Voting on unification in December
Formal talks on the merger of Dalabyggð and Húnaþing west will begin in the near future. It is planned that the merger will be elected in each municipality in December.
In a conversation with mbl.is, Magnús Magnússon, chairman of the project committee on the merger of the municipalities, says talks between the municipalities have been successful. The project committee has met four times since January, and residents’ meetings have been held in both municipalities.
More stroke
He says the municipalities are similar in terms of development and employment – rural agricultural communities with one strong urban core each. The merger involves opportunities in terms of municipal finances and also possibly better and more specialized services at the United municipality.
There is also a greater force in a larger municipality, especially towards state authorities and public infrastructure institutions.
Wants to put this into the hands of the population
Magnús says the reaction of the population has been positive.
« The meetings have proved informative for residents and good constructive discussions were held on challenges and opportunities regarding possible unification. »
Magnús says Dalabyggð and Húnaþing west are similar to municipalities.
Morgunbladid/Sigurður Bogi
Magnús does not want to comment on how likely he thinks the merger will be, but says all the talks have been successful. « We want to put this into the hands of the population. »
At a local council meeting on May 8th. The municipality of Húnaþing West agreed to refer a proposal for formal merger talks between Húnaþing west and Dalabyggd for the second discussion at the next regular local council meeting in June. The same did the Dalabyggd municipality at a local council meeting on the same day.
More municipalities in unification talks
Informal discussions between more municipalities have been approved at local council meetings across the country, for example between Kaldrananeshreppur and Árneshreppur.
Árneshreppur is the second -largest municipality of Iceland and Kaldrananeshreppur is fifth place on that list. The municipality of Kaldrananeshreppur also approved an agreement on the municipality’s entry into fragile settlements, projects by the Regional Development Agency to counter a sustained population reduction in smaller regional law.
