President living large, figures show

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn’t the only one costing the state a prettier penny than he once did.

The total cost of maintaining the position and functions of President Shimon Peres has steadily increased in recent years and is now three times as much as in 2000.

The hike is comparable to a near doubling in Netanyahu’s expenses from 2009 to 2012, and comes as public expenditures are being scrutinized in the face of a rising budget deficit and the passage of several new austerity measures.

During 2012, the president’s budget came to NIS 62.7 million ($17.19 million), compared to NIS 42.5 million ($11.65 million) in 2011 and just NIS 38.6 million ($10.54 million) in 2010.

In 2000, a year that saw Ezer Weizman leave office and Moshe Katsav take up his position, the total presidential budget was NIS 21.4 million ($5.87 million).

Part of the sharp jump in expenses last year was due to an extensive NIS 7 million ($1.92 million) refurbishment project at the president’s official residence in Jerusalem to repair storm damage from 2011 and to finally perform decades-old maintenance work, Maariv reported on Thursday.

Administration costs for the President’s Residence in 2012 were NIS 42,283,000 ($11.6 million), or two-thirds of the total budget for maintaining a president, and included the costs for security, car services and manpower. In addition, Peres spent NIS 4,664,000 ($1.27 million) on flights abroad, bringing his total flight expenses since 2009 to NIS 21,597,000 ($5.92 million).

The budget also maintains a bureau for former president Yitzhak Navon, the only former president still alive, excluding convicted rapist and former president Moshe Katsav. Katsav’s bureau did receive NIS 256,000 ($70,000) in funding up until May 2012 when the Supreme Court rejected his appeal against the rape conviction.

Food bills came to NIS 220,000 ($603,000), including the cost of hosting guests, and a further NIS 81,458 ($22,200) went on activities outside the compound itself. Peres, who drew a wage of NIS 696,000 ($191,000) and is well-known for his smart attire, spent NIS 44,935 ($12,310) of the budget on clothes. However, the 89-year-old paid from his own pocket for haircuts and drew no funding to maintain his own private residence.

The President’s Residence told the Maariv daily that in addition to the maintenance work at the compound the president has also greatly increased his public activities, leading to increased spending. Events such as Independence Day celebrations, award ceremonies for volunteers, a day honoring army reservists, and others have all pushed up presidential spending.

“In addition, the president hosted a long list of heads of state and each such visit costs the state millions of shekels,” the statement said.

The President’s Residence stressed that the journeys aboard included trips that were of great importance to the state, for example to Vietnam and South Korea and a meeting with the pope. The statement noted that half of the flight costs went to security measures.

The figures came after the publication last week of reports showing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s household spending grew by 80 percent to some NIS 5.4 million ($1.5m.) in 2012.

Netanyahu was the object of scathing public criticism after it was revealed that he had spent $127,000 (over NIS 450,000) of the taxpayers’ money having an El Al plane outfitted with a double bed in an enclosed bedroom for his five-hour flight to London last month to attend the funeral of British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.