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– This was bad news. The clarifications in the Local Government Law and the merger of municipalities have not helped. Therefore, we will implement a much stricter control so that municipalities are not paid better than they are allowed, says Director Anne Kristin Vie at the Consumer Council.
His review of 47 merged municipalities shows that the level of taxes has increased in 27 of them.
The new municipality of Drammen is cited as an example, and it now costs NOK 10,000 more to apply for a building permit than it did before the merger.
The rate in Drammen is almost three times higher than for an average municipality last year, according to the Consumer Council.
– Processing a construction request is a standard task and the price should be fairly similar across the country. There may be reasons for a certain price difference. Some municipalities subsidize treatment, while others have more expensive processes, Vie says.
The Consumers Council says they expected taxes to go down, not go up, when the municipalities merged in municipal reform.
– It goes in the completely wrong direction from what we expected, he tells NRK.
