The large variation in refugee reception rates between European nation-states has spurred debate about "responsibility-sharing" in matters of migration. More recently, however, scholars have noted that the variations in refugee reception occur not only between nation-states but also within them at the local level. This study concentrates on four small-sized municipalities in Sweden with 7,500 to 50,000 inhabitants, and with historically divergent approaches to refugee reception. By performing semi-structured interviews with local politicians and bureaucrats, the study aims to contribute new insights into how these actors perceive and explain local refugee reception. This study concludes that there are shared understandings about how refugee reception has been performed locally in the included municipalities. Moreover, the absence (or presence) of prior refugee reception seems to be related to perceptions about institutional capacities and resource availability connected to refugee settlement. In explaining the municipal approach, the narratives consistently point to the importance of experience in the area of refugee reception compared to party representation in the local assembly or resource availability. These results highlight the complexities connected to local refugee reception and how disparities in historical reception rates may affect perceived abilities to host newcomers. Such perceptions might be important to consider in the implementation of a system of equal distribution.