Government allocates NIS 700 million to Jerusalem budget
After months of financial crisis and a 3-day strike, municipality to see influx of funds for 2017
The government and the Jerusalem Municipality have reached an agreement that will see NIS 700 million ($190 million) allocated to the capital’s 2017 budget, ending a months-long financial crisis, a standoff with the Finance Ministry, and a brief strike last month aimed at pressuring the national government to fill a funding gap of some NIS 300 million.
In late January, Mayor Nir Barkat, labor unions and municipal workers called a general strike, suspending garbage collection, welfare and social services for three days before the mayor called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene. School schedules were also disrupted.
The strike came to a head when the municipality announced it would have to lay off hundreds of workers if a solution was not found. Netanyahu then telephoned Barkat with a request to bring the strike to an end, which the mayor honored after the prime minister appointed a special task force led by the director-general of his office, Eli Groner, to begin negotiations for an agreement.
In a statement Thursday, the municipality said the ministries of Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage, Education, Health, Social Affairs and Social Services, Tourism, and Sport and Culture all agreed to allocate special resources to the city after marathon talks with the prime minister’s special team.
Barkat welcomed the agreement, saying Thursday that it was a “victory for Jerusalem,” and thanked Netanyahu and Groner for their “massive efforts” to reach a solution.
“Thanks to this agreement, we avoided the pain of laying off thousands of workers, and can now focus more on education, more on culture and more on social services and places of employment,” said the mayor.
Barkat had blamed the Finance Ministry for the crisis, bitterly attacking it after it accused the city of mismanaging funds.
Groner said the agreement was reached to “strengthen Jerusalem, not just as the capital of the Jewish people but also as a center for Zionism whose residents are interested in staying and growing there.”
“This is a strategic budget that will help move Jerusalem one step forward and I hope it’s just the first step in many of steps,” said Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Ze’ev Elkin.
