Center Party Leader Received 124,000 Kronor Too Much in Compensation

Karin Frejd (C), Säter’s municipal commissioner, has for over a year received higher compensation than permitted by the municipality’s own rules. In total, it amounts to about 124,000 kronor that now must be repaid. She herself claims she “had no clue” that there was a mistake — despite having participated in setting the rules herself.

The issue came to light after Christer Eriksson (MED) raised it through a letter to the editor in Södran, prompting the newspaper to obtain information about the municipal commissioner’s remuneration. It turned out that Frejd (C) had received too much money.

“It felt really unfortunate. I had no clue that it was incorrect,” says Karin Frejd to Södran.

The municipal council in Säter had already decided as of June 16, 2022, on new regulations for politicians’ compensation. According to the rules, the chairperson of the municipal executive board is entitled to 85 percent of a member of parliament’s salary, while other remunerated members may receive a maximum of 90 percent of the municipal commissioner’s salary.

In 2025, this meant that the chairperson of the municipal executive board, Mats Nilsson (S), was entitled to 66,725 kronor per month. Frejd’s maximum compensation should therefore have been 60,052 kronor.

However, when she took office as municipal commissioner on April 11, 2025, the 90 percent cap was not applied.

Despite the Rules — Received Higher Compensation Than the Top Official

Instead, she received 43,371 kronor per month as first vice chairperson of the municipal executive board and an additional 26,690 kronor for her position as chair of the community development committee. That is a total of 70,061 kronor per month, over 3,000 kronor more than the chair of the municipal executive board.

Altogether, she has received approximately 124,000 kronor too much.

Frejd says she was aware that there was a cap on her compensation but assumed the municipality had calculated it correctly. She told Södran that the municipality must have “missed putting in the limit.”

An additional detail in the case is the fact that Frejd herself participated when the council decided on the new compensation rules in 2022 and was also the verifier of the meeting minutes.

The Center Party leader did not notice anything when the extra money was deposited — despite having set the rules herself. Photo: Pexels and facsimile Google Maps

The Money Must Be Repaid

Frejd states that she intends to repay the money as soon as possible.

“It is really unfortunate. I intend for it to be repaid as soon as possible,” she says.

In conclusion, she states that it is “good that the matter was noticed” — but that realization only came after about 124,000 kronor had been incorrectly paid out.