Local authorities threaten nationwide strike over budget cuts
Municipalities warn cabinet-approved fund reduction will greatly hamper their ability to provide basic services
An umbrella organization representing Israel’s local municipalities has threatened a country-wide strike in protest of the planned across-the-board cuts to the state budget, which they say will cause damage in the hundreds of millions of shekels to local authorities.
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, the Center for Local Government said the latest cuts to the 2017 budget, along with a previously approved slashing of funds, would leave local authorities with a total reduction of NIS 250 million in critical state support.
“Cuts to funds will affect around 190 local councils and the services they provide to their population,” the Center said. “The State of Israel delegates responsibility over its population to the local authorities, and they are those who ensure all basic services to every citizen.
“Every year the government asks for more services and demands an increased burden by local leadership, while simultaneously dramatically reducing their budgets.”
The Center warned that “if the treasury does not walk back this terrible edict, municipal services will be halted immediately.”
The Cabinet on Sunday approved NIS 1.2 billion ($310 million) in cuts for the 2017-2018 budget in order to finance the relocation of the Amona settlement, establish the new public broadcasting corporation, and build new schools in ultra-Orthodox communities.
Cuts to education, health and welfare ministries were reportedly among the austerity measures approved by ministers in the vote.
The across-the-board cuts amounting to nearly two percent of the total budget, went to a cabinet vote Sunday after Netanyahu, Kahlon and other senior ministry officials agreed the proposed cuts must be approved before the Knesset votes on the overall 2017-2018 budget later this month.
The austerity measures approved on Sunday were deemed necessary by the Finance Ministry, citing the costs of constructing temporary housing for Amona residents, funding the yet-to-be established Israel Broadcasting Corporation and the building of new educational institutions in ultra-Orthodox communities, in accordance with coalition agreements.
The ministry said the slashed funds would also help cover costs of armored public buses in the West Bank, the employment of Palestinian workers in Israel and various coalition agreements reached since the budget was first proposed.
Ahead of the vote, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan vowed to vote against the proposed cuts, saying that slashing NIS 37 million ($9.5 million) from his ministry’s budget would be “a hard blow to new plans such as enforcement in the Arab sector and strengthening security in Jerusalem,” according to Hebrew-language media reports.
Numerous opposition politicians reacted angrily to the proposed cuts, with Shelly Yachimovich (Zionist Union) describing them on Twitter as “brutal” and “cowardly,” while adding that they will “deepen poverty” as “basic services are eroded.”
Yesh Atid party chairman Ofer Shelah also condemned the budget cuts, saying in a statement that they “will hurt the services that we are all entitled to as citizens” and that “they demonstrate the damage done to Israel’s economy and to all of our pockets” by Kahlon during his tenure as finance minister.
