According to recently published info, the monthly salary of Reykjavík’s new mayor, Heiða Björg Hilmisdóttir, is 3.867.891 krónur per month (to be fair, the outgoing mayor was earning about the same). That’s nearly one million more per month than the Prime Minister’s salary and almost the same as the President of Iceland’s. But hey, who needs a functioning public transport system when your mayor is raking in cash? We took to the streets to ask what passersby think.
Lára Sif, 24
Iceland
Wait, doing what? Being a mayor? For 4 million? Okay. Give me a cut of it, please. I need it. That’s way too fucking much!
Anonymous, 25
Iceland
I don’t know. I think I don’t have an opinion on that. I saw an article about the town mayors of Kópavogur and Garðabær having a higher salary than the mayor of New York. I think it’s a lot, but I don’t care. I think the mayor of Garðabær has even more. There are a lot of other problems. This is just one of them.
Rens & Freyja, 25 & 22
Germany & Iceland
R: I don’t know. The good thing about high salaries in politics is that they are not so easy to bribe, or they’re not corrupt, maybe, so it’s good to pay them a lot. I guess.
F: I don’t think I have anything valuable to add to that. It’s a lot. Maybe it shouldn’t be that much.
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