The municipal board of Municipality Qeqertalik continues to have problems meeting the year’s budget, which was approved last year. The economy was discussed at a municipal council meeting on Thursday 10 August.
According to the administration’s briefing to the municipal board, in the first half of this year the municipality spent DKK 28.2 million more than budgeted. Among other things, the mayor explains the excess at the meeting as follows:
The municipal board of Municipality Qeqertalik continues to have problems meeting the year’s budget, which was approved last year. The economy was discussed at a municipal council meeting on Thursday 10 August.
According to the administration’s briefing to the municipal board, in the first half of this year the municipality spent DKK 28.2 million more than budgeted. Among other things, the mayor explains the excess at the meeting as follows:
– This is mainly due to the fact that the budgets overall have been set too low in the budgeting for 2026.
– The additional consumption is due, among other things, to wage costs. In addition to absences that do not result in loss of wages, the need for substitutes also affects the municipality’s finances, says Simigaq Heilmann (D).
The excesses are distributed among the standing committees as follows: The Inuit committee DKK 9.6 million, Timi Tarni DKK 8.4 million and Inoqarfik DKK 9.6 million.
Inuit Ataqatigiit’s Niels Kristensen voted neither for nor against the municipality’s additional consumption. The coalition parties behind the mayor, namely Demokraatit, Inuit Ataqatigiit and Naleraq, as well as the opposition Siumut and Atassut did not approve the case.
Mayor: I am in charge
The highest authority in the municipality, Mayor Simigaq Heilmann, also voted against because of the result in his area of responsibility. She fears, among other things, that the deficit could get worse until the end of the year if the trend continues.
– The accounts cannot be accepted when we know that at the end of the year we will have a deficit of DKK 56 million. That is why we demand from the municipal council that the financial management of operations must be much tighter from now on, says the mayor.
She demands, among other things, that the finances of the operation be tightly managed. Siumut politician Frantz Lundblad questions the fact that the mayoral parties neither approve nor take note of the budget overrun.
– The managers do not accept their responsibility. The mayor’s main responsibility is to ensure that budgets are not exceeded. How is it to be understood when all parties, including the overall decision-makers, do not accept the economic situation? So who is responsible for this budget overrun? We must find out who is responsible if the managers do not want to take responsibility, he says.
With these words, the mayor acknowledged his responsibility for the first time during the debate:
– It is I who have the greatest responsibility, regardless of how much you criticize it, says Simigaq Heilmann.
Siumut: The officials will have doubts
The mayor’s proposal for a solution is strict financial management in operations, meaning that the administrative officials must manage the finances. But the Siumut member finds it difficult to understand what this means exactly.
– You can’t just demand that the civil servants have strict financial management. How do you imagine that tight governance should look like? As a civil servant, you also want to know what requirements are being made, because right now we only get the headline.
– I am very surprised that the officials are assigned the task in connection with an overspend of 28 million. It is us elected officials who have to decide where and how to save, says Frantz Lundblad.
After these statements, the mayor also presented additional information. The mayor emphasizes that members of the committees must also work with savings.
Increasing overconsumption
In the first quarter of the year, the municipality of Qeqertalik had an overconsumption of DKK 18 million. Now the overconsumption has increased by 10 million to 28 million kroner.
The municipal board decided at its meeting in mid-June that work should be done to get the budget in order. But since this had not been carried out administratively, it was sharply criticized by the mayor.
– There have been no administrative changes. We demand that action be taken, says Simigaq Heilmann.
