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When Sunnfjord Township was created, the former councilor was demoted to a social worker, but kept the salary of 1,070,000 crowns.
In a few years, 119 municipalities were merged into 47 municipalities. One of them was the Sunnfjord Municipality, which was previously made up of the Førde, Naustdal, Gaular and Jølster municipalities.
One of the most important arguments behind the municipal reform was to streamline and ensure less bureaucracy. The online newspaper Økonomi has requested access to all labor agreements and final agreements for the councilors of municipalities that have carried out mergers in recent years.
In the future, there will be more articles on the findings.
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Ellen Jensen left her job as deputy general manager of a local company when she was appointed a councilor for the small municipality of Jølster in 2016.
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He became a social worker and kept a million salary
When four municipalities would become one as of January 1, 2020 and met in a municipality of 22,000 inhabitants, there were three redundant councilors. Gaular Township Councilman Atle Fasteland disappeared to another Township.
Øyvind Bang-Olsen, who worked in Naustdal Township, became Municipal Director for Technical and Environmental Issues in New Sunnfjord Township.
Jølster Councilor Ellen Jensen moved from managerial role to social worker in the new municipality. But even so, Jensen still receives a salary of 1,070,000 crowns.
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The new councilor, Ole John Østenstad, ended up with an annual salary of NOK 1.5 million. Which means that he earns around 100,000 kronor more per year than a minister.
– Isn’t it special that a former councilor continues to have a salary corresponding to the responsibility of managing a municipality, when the person in question is transferred to the case officer?
Jensen refers to Østenstad, who answers on behalf of the municipality:
– When it comes to the question that Jensen has the same salary today as he had as a councilor in Jølster, it comes from the letter of intent in relation to the municipal merger. Here, employees have a secure salary and a job guarantee, responds Østenstad.
1.5 MILLION: New Councilor Ole John Østenstad in Sunnfjord Township has a salary of 1.5 million crowns. That is about NOK 100,000 more than a minister.
Photo: Sigurd Løseth / Firda
It also refers to the main collective agreement:
«In case of relocation / transfer to a lower salary position in the same municipality / business due to reorganization, illness, injury, rationalization or other reasons not due to the circumstances of the employee, the employee will retain his current salary assignment as a personal scheme “.
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The bureaucracy is out
The Conservative Party has been anxious for many years for municipal reform. And one of the most central arguments has been the less bureaucracy. As they wrote on their own websites:
“The goal of municipal reform is better services for citizens where they live, with local democracy and less bureaucracy.”
But the numbers are clear. The bureaucracy in Norwegian municipalities has grown dramatically during the period of municipal mergers. Although it went from 428 municipalities to 356 municipalities, the number of bureaucrats has increased by about 5,000.
Thus, there are now 63,500 municipal bureaucrats in 2019, compared to 58,000 in 2015.
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