Small town mayor learns about Prague problems but still disagrees with capital’s mayor on public financing

The mayor of a small town who spent a week as mayor of the Czech capital says he used to know Prague but now he knows the city’s problems. Petr Gazdík, mayor of the small town of Suchá Loz, temporarily swapped jobs at the invitation of Prague mayor Pavel Bém after complaining that small municipalities lost out compared to the capital in terms of the redistribution of money collected in taxes. Mr Gazdík told reporters he had agreed with Mr Bém on 90 percent of issues, but they still differed over municipal financing and the idea of Prague hosting the Olympics, which Mr Bém supports.