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47-565: On 1 January 2007 Varde municipality was, as a result of Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007) , merged with the existing Blaabjerg , Blåvandshuk , most of Helle (Grimstrup parish, a part of the former Helle Municipality, merged with Esbjerg Municipality ), and Ølgod municipalities to form a new Varde municipality. Årre is also located in Varde. Varde's municipal council consists of 25 members, elected every four years. The municipal council has six political committees. Below are

94-525: A final agreement merging many municipalities, as well as abolishing the 13 counties and setting up five regions , was reached by the parties Venstre , Conservative People's Party , Danish People's Party , Social Democratic Party and Det Radikale Venstre . Presented in February 2005 to the Folketing , the lawmakers finally approved the last of the 50 bills needed for the mergers by voting for

141-450: A maximum of 31 and minimum of 19 municipal councillors and the guidelines for a municipality with less than 20,000 inhabitants being a maximum of 31 and minimum of 9 municipal councillors. These guidelines replaced the old guidelines with the council elections in 2005 after the laws initiating the structural reform were passed in parliament. Many newly formed municipalities have chosen to have a maximum number of councillors so that all parts of

188-520: A merger from 1 January 2003, before the reform, that is 68 merged municipalities in all. 238 municipalities were merged 1 January 2007 to form 66 municipalities for a total of 245 merged municipalities in 2003, 2006, and 2007. The 30 remaining municipalities have not merged. Lolland , and Sønderborg each consist of seven (7) former municipalities. Before the merger on Bornholm there were 275 municipalities and 14 counties. Two sui generis municipalities, namely Copenhagen and Frederiksberg , were never

235-414: A part of a county, but were counties in their own right. Many of the responsibilities of the former counties were taken over by the 98 municipalities. With the increased responsibilities, the income tax rate that each of the 98 municipalities levies was raised by three percentage points on 1 January 2007. This tax had once been a part of the tax levied by the former counties. The archipelago of Ertholmene

282-402: Is tourism . There are about 45,000 visitors per year, mostly day visitors arriving via Bornholm during the summer months. Ertholmene is also a popular destination for yachting . Fishing used to be the main source of income, but today there are no commercial fishers on the islands. The islanders, who do not pay municipal taxes of any kind and were never part of a municipality, were exempt from

329-787: Is not part of any municipality, but is administered by the Ministry of Defence . The average land area of a Danish municipality is 432.59 km , 167.08 square miles. The area given in each article about municipalities – and regions – is the total area of land and water, of which the latter can make up a large part for instance in Halsnæs Municipality . The Constitution of Denmark states: "Article 82. The right of municipalities to manage their own affairs independently, under State supervision, shall be laid down by statute." 2,522 municipal councillors (and 205 regional councillors) were elected on Tuesday 15 November 2005 , being

376-462: The Gunboat War . Many of the historical buildings now serve as living quarters for the local population, and some are rented, year after year, to regular summer residents. The islands' external appearance has changed very little in over 300 years. Girdled by thick granite walls with old cannons pointed seaward, Christiansø is a picturesque tourist spot seemingly frozen in time. A former part of

423-657: The Middle Ages . The first permanent settlement was the result of the Danish-Swedish conflicts in the late 17th century. As Denmark needed a naval base in the central Baltic Sea, a fortress was built on Christiansø and Frederiksø in 1684 which served as an outpost for the Danish Navy until 1855. Christiansø Church originally served the garrison. The population peaked at the census in 1810 which showed 829 inhabitants. They were soldiers and were there because of

470-525: The 1098 municipalities existing at the start of 1970 (with around 10,000 councillors) were merged to form 277 new municipalities. A few years later, the number was slightly reduced again to 275 as a few municipalities in Copenhagen County merged. 1 April 1974, Sengeløse municipality merged with Høje-Taastrup Municipality , and Store Magleby parish merged with Dragør parish to form the new Dragør Municipality . The voters of Sengeløse – which

517-668: The Church of Denmark (88.46% of the population). Ertholmene has never been part of a municipality, county, or region. The islands form an unincorporated area that does not belong to either a municipality or a region. Instead they are state property governed by an administrator, appointed by the Danish Ministry of Defence , with the responsibility being the tasks normally performed by municipalities and other public sector civil services. The major sources of income in Ertholmene

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564-477: The bills 16 June 2005. The laws became effective 26 June 2005, as always the day after publication in Lovtidende . Half of the bills received support from more political parties than the three parties with the political majority of 94 seats. Then the mergers were specified and approved in a departmental order (Danish: ministeriel bekendtgørelse ) signed 29 June 2005 by Lars Løkke Rasmussen , then minister of

611-460: The central government "Health Contribution" tax ( Sundhedsbidrag ) which stood at 8% when it was introduced on 1 January 2007 with Kommunalreformen ("The Municipal Reform" of 2007) , because it was thought that the relatively isolated islets would otherwise be abandoned. This tax replaced the county tax, which the islanders were also exempt from paying, not being part of a county. From 1 January 2019 this tax has been abolished, while income taxes in

658-484: The council election 29 May 2002 in the municipality of Bornholm ) and 205 (regional board councillors) (1998: 374 county board councillors) respectively. Until 31 December 2006 Denmark was divided into 13 counties , and 270 municipalities. Ertholmene Ertholmene (formerly spelled Ærtholmene) is a small archipelago in Denmark . The largest island is Christiansø , whose name is often used with reference to

705-454: The counties (1970–2006) (Danish (singular) amtskommune lit.   ' county municipality ' ) are not municipalities . The 270 municipalities were consolidated into 98 larger units, most of which have at least 20,000 inhabitants. 67 of the present municipalities are mergers as a result of the administrative reform, with Ærø being allowed to merge already on 1 January 2006, and one municipality, Bornholm Regional Municipality , being

752-528: The county to form Bornholm regional municipality , in the process abolishing the county and thereby reducing the number of counties to 13. This brought the number of municipalities down to 271 from 1 January 2003. After the general election in 2001 and the formation of a new government, a new municipal reform was discussed. Among the reasons advanced in favour of the reform were more synergies through economies of scale (critical mass and greater professional and financial sustainability) and big item discounts and

799-490: The entire archipelago . Ertholmene are situated 18 kilometres (11 mi) northeast of Gudhjem , Bornholm , and include Denmark's easternmost point . Two of the islands, Christiansø and Frederiksø, are inhabited, with a combined permanent population (as of 2024 ) of 91. The archipelago has a total area of 39 hectares (96 acres). Its name is derived from the Danish for "pea islands". Historically an important navy location,

846-430: The first councils elected since the new reform. In 1997 there were 4,685 municipal and 374 county councillors in the then-275 municipalities and 14 counties. As an example of the reduction in the number of councillors, Bornholm in the 1970s and 1980s had a total of 122 councillors (from 1999:89) in five municipalities and one county (18 county councillors in the 1990s [from 1999: 15]). After the merger on 1 January 2003, of

893-418: The five municipalities and the county, there was one single municipal council with 27 municipal councillors. They were reduced to 23 from 1 January 2018. After 1 January 2007, when Bornholm Regional Municipality lost its (short-lived – four years: 2003 until 2006) county privileges, there has been talk of a reduction to 19 municipal councillors, the guidelines for a municipality with over 20,000 inhabitants being

940-422: The fortress closed in 1855. Since then there has been no operable military infrastructure on the archipelago, but it remains under the formal administration of the Ministry of Defence , which employs 25 to 30 people for maintaining the islands' civilian infrastructure, museum and historical buildings. Today the economy of Ertholmene is almost entirely based on tourism , with tens of thousands of visitors each year,

987-596: The fortress, Store Tårn has housed the Christiansø Lighthouse for the past 200 years, and a small round tower on Frederiksø, Lille Tårn, serves as a museum. Together with Bornholm, Ertholmene is part of Landsdel Bornholm. Ertholmene makes up the Parish of Christiansø in the Church of Denmark and is served by Christiansø Church . On 1 January 2017 out of 78 inhabitants in total there were 69 members of

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1034-428: The four-year term of office (1 January) 1982 – (31 December) 1985. November 1985 local elections were for the following four-year term of office (1986–1989), etc. The election pages can be accessed from the templates at the bottom of each election page. Number of municipal councillors elected and term of office : Until the municipal reform of 1 April 1970, the number of councillors in Danish municipalities and counties

1081-473: The government coalition of Venstre (then 56 seats) and the Conservative People's Party (then 16 seats), thus securing 94 seats (90 needed for a majority in the 179 seat Folketing ). The laws behind the mergers were subjected to a hearing from 1 December 2004 to collect opinions – for or against or to modify the laws – from organisations and individuals. After the national election of 2005

1128-533: The interior and health . As a curiosity, all of Billund Airport , then partly located in Give Municipality , became a part of Billund Municipality , and any future expansion of the airport will also become a part of that municipality. The first elections to the new regions and municipalities were held in November 2005. The reform replaced the structure of municipalities and counties introduced with

1175-426: The jurisdiction of a municipality in one county to the jurisdiction of a municipality in another county. Many of the 275 municipalities after 1 April 1974 built large city halls to consolidate the administration, thus changing the cityscape of Denmark. It also consolidated other municipal enterprises and the purchase of goods and services from the private sector. Until 1978 the fiscal year from 1 April to 31 March

1222-532: The majority on day-trips from Bornholm during the summer months. The archipelago's buildings and nature are protected by law, and access to the uninhabited islands is restricted. Ertholmene consists of three main islands, Christiansø, Frederiksø and Græsholm, plus a number of rocks and skerries . The inhabited islands of Christiansø and Frederiksø are accessible to visitors, but the remaining are only accessible to people with special permission. Fishermen from Bornholm have used Ertholmene for temporary shelter since

1269-525: The mayor and treasurer/supervisor of the administration (Danish kæmner – a term last used until 1996 – in Sindal , today a part of Hjørring Municipality ), both employed part-time). In 1970, a municipal reform ended the distinction between parish municipalities and market city municipalities. With the reform of 1970, the term municipality ( kommune ) replaced the previous two terms, which are now never used except for historical purposes. By 1 April 1970,

1316-442: The mergers, because the center-rightwing voters in the merged municipalities would be in minority at the elections. (Since 1 January 1962 only two mayors of Høje-Taastrup have been Social Democrats, namely Per Søndergaard from 1 April 1978 until 31 December 1981 (three years and nine months), and Anders Bak (1948–2006) from 1986 until 2005 (20 years); Michael Ziegler, Conservative People's Party, has been mayor from 1 January 2006). Thus

1363-896: The municipal councils elected since the Municipal Reform of 2007 . This article about a location in the Region of Southern Denmark is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Municipalities of Denmark#Municipal Reform 2007 Denmark is divided into five regions , which contain 98 municipalities ( Danish : kommuner , [kʰoˈmuːnɐ] ; sg. kommune , [-nə] ). The Capital Region has 29 municipalities, Southern Denmark 22, Central Denmark 19, Zealand 17 and North Denmark 11. The government intends to merge R. Hovedstaden with R. Sjælland 1 January 2027 to form Region Østdanmark ( Region of Eastern Denmark ). The regional council will have 41 members, and will be elected Tuesday 18 November 2025 in

1410-496: The municipalities; after that part of the central government Ministry of Taxation), electoral wards , and parishes in the Church of Denmark also were reduced in number following the municipal reform. The 2007 reform reduced the number of local and regional politicians by almost half to 2,522 (municipal councillors) ( council elections November 2005 ; reduced in the 2009 elections to 2,468; in 2013 2,444; in 2017 2,432) (1978: 4,735; 1989: 4,826; 1998: 4,685; reduced somewhat in

1457-631: The new municipalities and the small political parties have a chance of representation in the new councils: Copenhagen Municipality has 55 municipal councillors on its council , and populous municipalities such as Århus and Aalborg have 31 each, and Odense and Frederiksberg (Frb from 1 Jan 2022) have 29. Gentofte (from 17 to 19 councillors in elections 2009), Glostrup (from 17 to 19 cllrs in 2009), Hørsholm (from 15 to 19 cllrs in 2005), Ishøj (from 17 to 19 cllrs in 2009), Solrød (from 15 to 19 cllrs in 2009), and Tårnby (from 17 to 19 cllrs in 2009) are examples of municipalities that have increased

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1504-408: The number of councillors because of the new guidelines. Council elections are held on the third Tuesday of November every four years. The previous elections were held on 16 November 2021. The newly formed five regional and 66 municipal councils acted as transitional merger committees ( sammenlægningsudvalg ) in 2006 with the responsibility of arranging the mergers (singular sammenlægning ) of

1551-402: The number of municipalities down to 270 that were finally reduced by mergers from 1 January 2007 to form 98 municipalities. Since the counties were not the only structure based on the municipal layout of Denmark, other related changes were carried out as well. Thus, police districts (reduced from 54 to 12), court districts (reduced from 82 to 24), tax districts (before 2007 the responsibility of

1598-433: The number of municipalities was 277 from 1 April 1970 to 1 April 1974, from that date dropping to 275. Also on 1 April 1974, Avedøre , which was part of Glostrup Municipality , was conjoined with Hvidovre Municipality . This combination was logical, as Avedøre borders Hvidovre, but is separated from Glostrup. Other minor municipal border adjustments - between 100 and 150 - were made 1 April 1972, sometimes moving an area from

1645-415: The old counties and municipalities into five and 66 new entities respectively. The 238 municipal councils and 13 county councils that were to be merged and replaced/abolished just continued their work one extra year beyond the fixed four-year term of office they were elected for (2002–2005) until 2006, and then ceased to exist. 32 municipalities including those of the recently formed Ærø Municipality (which

1692-413: The ordinary 2025 Danish local elections . This structure was established per an administrative reform (Danish: Strukturreformen ; English: ( The ) Structural Reform ) of the public sector of Denmark, effective 26 June 2005 (council elections 15 November 2005), which abolished the 13 counties ( amter ; singular amt ) and created five regions ( regioner ; singular region ) which unlike

1739-476: The possibility of offering a wider array of services closer to the public (via a one-stop place of access to the public sector not unlike the unitary councils ) Also, the reform was intended to alleviate the financial problems of depopulation in some areas due to limited job opportunities, high unemployment and aging, and to make introduction of new information technology more affordable. In short: fewer people, fewer municipalities. A commission on structural reform

1786-403: The process – because of its remote location 150 km (93 mi) southeast of Copenhagen retains some regional functions and is thus called a de facto regional municipality. It performs some tasks that are only performed by the regions in the rest of Denmark. (From 1 January 2016 and 2018 Ærø Municipality and Fanø Municipality , respectively, will also handle a task on the islands which

1833-472: The reform of 1970. Three sui generis municipalities who were also counties lost their county privileges and became part of the Capital Region of Denmark , although one of these three municipalities, Bornholm , which was created 1 January 2003 after the merger of its county with the five municipalities was approved in a law by the Folketing 19 March 2002 – thereby abolishing one of the 14 counties in

1880-474: Was around 10,000 in around 1,000 parish municipalities ( sognekommuner ), being supervised by their county, and market city municipalities ( købstadskommuner ), the latter numbering 86 (including Bornholm whose county as an exception supervised the county's six market city municipalities (of 21 in total)) and not being part of a county but being supervised by the Interior Ministry. The reform

1927-488: Was changed from 1 April until 31 March into 1 January until 31 December, local elections were held in March and the elected councillors took their seats the following month, 1 April. Elections were held in even years (a few examples given here): March 1966, March 1970, March 1974, March 1978. Term of office for local politicians elected in 1978 was 1 April 1978 until 31 December 1981. Local elections were held in November 1981 for

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1974-431: Was created a municipality 1 April 1970 but only existed until 31 March 1974, being deemed too small in population – and Store Magleby parish were almost exclusively owner-occupiers, who voted center-rightwing in elections for the municipal council, whereas Høje-Taastrup Municipality and Dragør parish consisted of mainly tenants who rented their apartments and who voted center-leftwing, so heated debates took place before

2021-453: Was formerly the responsibility of the Region of Southern Denmark , namely public mass transit.) Almost all the mergers of the municipalities took place 1 January 2007, but Marstal municipality and Ærøskøbing municipality , both on the island of Ærø , after a referendum on the island had decided to merge the two municipalities, were allowed by the Danish government to merge already from 1 January 2006 to form Ærø municipality , thus bringing

2068-466: Was in use in the public sector since a law was passed in 1849. As a consequence of a law passed by the Folketing in 1976, from 1 January 1979 the fiscal year is concurrent with the calendar year . Many reforms and laws passed prior to 1979 therefore have effect from 1 April. The 275 municipalities existed from 1 April 1974 until 31 December 2002, when the five municipalities on Bornholm merged with

2115-413: Was included in the reform) and Bornholm Regional Municipality (which was not merged as a result of the reform, merger decided locally by voters already 29 May 2001 and made effective from 1 January 2003) remained unchanged and were not merged with other municipalities. Local elections have also been held in odd years earlier, but immediately before 1 January 1979, when the fiscal year in the public sector

2162-723: Was initiated from 1958 by the Interior Minister Søren Olesen , (1891–1973), a member of the Justice Party of Denmark . The number of municipalities was reduced during the period from April 1962 to 1966 when 398 existing municipalities merged voluntarily to form 118 new ones. The number of municipalities was the highest in 1965, at 1345 – with more than 10,000 councillors – of which 88 were market city municipalities, including Copenhagen and Frederiksberg, and 1257 were parish municipalities (821 (the least populous; see table) of which had no staff employed except

2209-715: Was set up by the government 1 October 2002 and presented its report 9 January 2004. It was then presented to politicians, researchers, and journalists, more than 1,000 in all, 14 January 2004 in Vingstedcentret in Egtved Municipality near Vejle . The government put forward a proposal in April 2004, and a parliamentary majority backing the reform was secured 24 June 2004 when the Danish People's Party (then 22 seats) said it would support an agreement with

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