Skåtøy (municipality)

Skåtøy is a former municipality in Telemark county, Norway. The 114 km2 municipality included land on the mainland plus many surrounding islands. It existed from 1882 until its dissolution in 1960. The area is now part of Kragerø Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Skåtøy on the island of Skåtøy where the Skåtøy Church is located.

History
The parish of Skaatø (later spelled Skåtøy) was established as a municipality on 1 January 1882 when it was separated from the larger municipality of Sannidal. Initially, the new municipality had 3,907 residents. On 1 January 1891, an area of Skåtøy (population: 809) that was adjacent to the growing town of Kragerø was annexed and transferred from Skåtøy to Kragerø. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1960, the municipality of Skåtøy (population: 3,208) was merged with the neighboring Sannidal Municipality (population: 2,604) and the neighboring town of Kragerø (population: 4,638).

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of Skåtøy (Skotøy) since the first Skåtøy Church was built there. The first element is identical to the word skot which means "overhang" or "projection of land". The last element is identical to the word which means "island".

Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Skaatø. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Skaatøy. The letter y was added to the end of the word to "Norwegianize" the name (ø is the Danish word for "island" and øy is the Norwegian word). On 21 December 1917, a royal resolution enacted the 1917 Norwegian language reforms. Prior to this change, the name was spelled Skaatøy with the digraph "aa", and after this reform, the name was spelled Skåtøy, using the letter å instead.

Government
While it existed, this municipality was responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment, social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads. During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Skåtøy (incomplete list):
 * 1886-1902: Peder Rinde (V)
 * 1909-1912: Lars Nilsen Midgaard (V)

Municipal council
The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Skåtøy was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The tables below show the historical composition of the council by political party.