“Seltjarnarnesbær terminated the contract with Vigdísarholt, which runs the home, regarding the operation of the so-called day care service,” says Steingrímur Ari Arason, chairman of Vigdísarholt.
In 2019, Seltjarnar’s premises were put into use and Vigdísarholt took over the operation of a nursing home and day care services. There are a total of forty residents in the nursing home and 24 day care spaces. Four years later, the town sold the building, but continued to rent out part of it for the day care center.
“Vigdísarholt has leased and leases from this company the premises in which the nursing room service is provided, but the premises in which this day care service is located is different from the one Seltjarnarnesbær leases that premises despite the sale. The town instructed Vigdísarholt to continue providing this service,” says Steingrímur.
“This is a service that has been in demand and we have been very proud of it.”
On December 5, the town council granted Þóri Sigurgeirsson, the mayor of Seltjarnarnesbær, permission to terminate the contract with Vigdísarholt “if necessary”, according to the minutes of the town council meeting. The contract was terminated in December and will take effect at the end of 2026.
“To make a long story short, in December, Seltjarnarnesbær terminates this contract for the day care service, and there are two things, one is to revoke this mandate that we were given to provide the service and use of the premises,” says Steingrímur.
“Seltjarnarnesbær terminates the contract due to dissatisfaction with the cost of the housing and wants to say that part of the daily fee we should receive should cover the costs of the municipality because it is renting the housing for us. We said that it was not in accordance with the contract.”
No decision has been made regarding the operation of the nursing facility
“They cancel the contract and the premises with a year’s notice, so basically everything remains the same until the beginning of the next year, but we have replied that in fact we are ready to do everything possible to ensure that there will be no interruption in the service and to do everything possible so that the service can be transferred to the municipality,” says Steingrímur.
No reason was given for the contract being terminated, and Steingrímur says he does not know what the town intends to do regarding the activity. It is assumed that the town will take over the day care service, and Vigdísarholt’s board will assess what effect it may have on the nursing home service.
“We haven’t made any decisions about her yet.”
Steingrímur says that there is a great synergy between the nursing space and the day care space.
“Employees are useful to some extent, and this supply assessment and various other things make it profitable to provide these services side by side. So if we are going to stop providing the day care service, it will affect our results and we have to look at it calmly. It will always be based on the assumption that even if we were to stop, neither the employees nor the household members would feel it,” he says.
They are waiting for the municipality to show their cards, but as the year progresses, Steingrímur becomes more impatient.
“We have been providing this service since 2019 and I think everyone agrees that it has been successful and people appreciate it. This is naturally a local service that senior citizens in Seltjarnarnes have appreciated and to our knowledge has been successful, so of course we think this situation is bad,” says Steingrímur.
There will never be an interruption in service
Þór Sigurgeirsson, the mayor of Seltjarnarnesbæjar, says that the issue of the day stay is being examined by the town. The various parties involved in the case are discussing the best way to resolve the matter.
“In any case, there will never be any interruption in the service,” says Þór.
No formal decision has been made regarding the day care services.
