REPORTERNET.COM

The local authorities are launching an open-ended general strike this morning over several government decisions that local leaders say will reduce the income of their towns and cities by some NIS 2 billion.

During the strike there will be no reception hours at local authority offices; no welfare services, veterinary services or garbage collection; and no activities at local community centers. In addition, no parking tickets will be issued.

"Every time we complain about the authorities' lost revenues, at the treasury they wink at us and say that the following year they'll let us raise the property tax," said Dimona Mayor Meir Cohen. "It's time the treasury started sticking its hand into its own pocket, and not the residents' pockets."
He rebuffed critics who said the strike was being launched at the public's expense.
"We are not a populist body that's trying to grab headlines," he said. "This strike is for the public's benefit, and we apologize to those residents who will be hurt by it."
The members of the public who could be adversely affected by one of the decisions that would reduce municipal revenue include college and university students, who might no longer receive corporate-sponsored scholarships because of a new proposal aimed at reducing corporate funding for municipalities, and the 180 children who might no longer get a hot meal at a corporate-sponsored after-school program in Dimona.
of Local Authority leaders met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday in an effort to head off the strike, but though Netanyahu reportedly said the local authorities won't have to pay the price of the populist legislation that would reduce municipal revenues, he offered no concrete solutions for the expected drop.
Netanyahu instructed Harel Locker, the director general of the Prime Minister's Office, to continue negotiating with the mayors and local council heads to find solutions.
"The local authorities have no interest in striking," said ULA chairman Shlomo Buhbut, the mayor of Ma'alot-Tarshiha, at a press conference on Sunday. "All we want is to manage our local authorities with resources, not with favors.
"We came [to the meeting with Netanyahu] with a desire to resolve our problems through negotiations," he said. "But we did not succeed in getting clear answers from the prime minister.
The ULA signaled its intention to strike two weeks ago over the decisions that will hurt local authorities' revenues, including property tax (arnona ) discounts announced by Interior Minister Eli Yishai and new Justice Ministry proposals restricting donations to localities by big businesses. Other factors include a plan to give the central government more of the national lottery income than it has now, and a host of private member's bills that aim to reduce property taxes for banquet halls and other kinds of buildings.
Local authority heads are also complaining about the cost of water, and what they say is an unfair division of funding for education.
The local leaders say all these changes will reduce their revenues by a total of NIS 2 billion.
Buhbut attacked MKs who initiated bills to grant property tax discounts to specific industries.
"Elections and the primaries are in the air, which is why these bills emerged," he said. "This can't happen without a budget source or without compensating the local authorities."
Yishai said on Sunday that "the local authority heads' demands are justified," while the Finance Ministry said he had not coordinated the property tax discounts with the treasury or discussed how to make up for the lost revenue.
Particularly galling to the local council heads is the Justice Ministry's effort to create regulations that would restrict donations to local authorities from the business sector so as to prevent conflicts of interest.
As a result of draft regulations circulated by the Justice Ministry to business representatives and the local authorities, several large companies, among them Israel Chemicals and IDB, announced they were stopping their donations to city coffers, even though the regulations have not gone into effect. The announcements came even though the regulations set limits on such contributions, without banning them entirely.


(source: www.haaretz.com)