Weekly Update 02

8/23/24

Hello everyone,

Thank you for your attention. Thank you to those who reached out and asked to add friends. The mailing list has grown to 300 people, and thanks to you, it will continue to grow because there are many supporters of our party, which received the most votes of any party in the election.

As I mentioned, you’ll receive two emails from me this week because you joined the group after the first two had already been sent, and I’m sending them to you this week.

This week’s email will address an important vote that took place at the last council meeting on August 6, 2024, regarding the approval of an extraordinary budget increase for the reinforcement and renovation of Nili School.

So you can understand what was wrong with the vote (spoiler: it was approved despite its flaws. I was the only one who voted against it). I need to explain what a “Tav-R” is. This is a key term in the council’s work that can open the door to mismanagement and legal violations. That’s why it will come up frequently in my reports to you, so please don’t skip the following explanation.

There is the council’s operating budget—which I explained in my previous post. This is the budget allocated for day-to-day operations: paying salaries, maintaining buildings, and community activities.

Separate from the operating budget are special-purpose funds (SPFs). These are held in separate accounts called “funds,” and they exist on a per-project basis. For example, for renovating a public building (school, community center), for constructing a public building, or for planning a new building. Here, the council is required to vote separately each time for the special budget or for its increase. There are dozens of special budgets at any given moment in every council. A special budget remains open until the project is completed (construction is finished and the school opens) or until the council votes to close or cancel it.

Second difference: The operating budget comes from the council’s regular revenues, which are mainly property taxes, inspection fees, and rental income from its buildings. Special funds derive from betterment levies. Every time a new neighborhood is built, betterment levies go into the funds. Every time one of us expands their home, a betterment levy goes into the funds.

Third difference: The operating budget and the reserve funds are separate. With a few exceptions, it is generally prohibited to transfer funds from one to the other. For those who remember the criticism of Abutbul during his previous term—that is exactly what he did. Which constitutes a violation of the law. Those responsible for overseeing compliance are the council treasurer and the council members required to conduct oversight (provided they are not lied to or have information withheld from them—which has already happened in the past).

There are other differences—but you get the gist. So let’s return to the reinforcement and renovation of the Nili School—the approval for this project was initiated during Ziv’s term as council head. This is one of the beautiful projects that Ziv initiated and promoted. However, the project is not yet complete, and at last week’s meeting, the council was asked to approve an additional budget of 3.5 million shekels to finish it. So far, so good—what council member would vote against completing the school’s renovation?

Wait a minute—in order to withdraw 3.5 million shekels from the funds and transfer it to the contractors’ pockets, there must be a proper oversight process by the council. That did not happen at the last meeting, which is why I voted against it. Even though I, too, want the project to be finished and for the children to have a lovely school—I voted against it because the council members did not receive full information, not to mention that the exact purpose of the funds was hidden from us. I will emphasize right here: there is approval to open the school on schedule. What remains are parts of the exterior development, etc., which do not prevent the start of the school year. So we could have voted a few days later, after we received the information that was withheld from us.

What information wasn’t provided to us? We received a table explaining an expenditure of 2 million shekels, but we didn’t hear from any professionals justifying that amount. And we received no breakdown or explanation regarding the additional 1.5 million shekels.

At the meeting, there was not a single council employee from the Engineering Department who could answer our questions. And that was critical. Why? I conducted a tour of the school the day before the meeting and saw that work we were required to fund—which had not yet been carried out (air conditioners, electrical room)—had already been completed. ? A mystery. That is why we need an employee from the Engineering Department to answer the questions. An expense can be approved retroactively—but it must be stated that it is retroactive. In order to vote, council members must have accurate information. In order to vote, council members need to ask the right questions.

How will we know what to ask if we don’t receive information?

How will we know what to ask if I’m the only one who took the initiative to tour the school?

How can we approve 1.5 million shekels without receiving a breakdown of exactly what it is intended for and what is still needed for the project?

In my opinion, this budget increase should not have been approved until we received full answers and precise details on every single shekel. That is the role of council members—oversight.

Unfortunately, the opposition split. The party of Tzila Reshef and Tzachi Baruch informed us in advance that they would vote in favor. Only Tzachi Baruch was present at the meeting; he did ask tough questions—but in the end, he voted in favor.

Abstained: 3 members of New Contract, Odelya Kadmi from The Jewish Home, and Ilan Amrani, a member of my party. To his credit, after a few minutes he decided to vote against it. But the vote had already ended and they wouldn’t let him. Avigayil from my party was not at the meeting.

Against: Just me. I regret that not all of the opposition voted against it, because then we could have required the council head to hold a vote a few days after we received all the information, and also received answers from the engineering department. And perhaps it would have turned out that the renovation could be completed for less money. I don’t know. We asked to postpone the vote by a few days—but he refused. He probably knew he had the majority to pass the resolution. Which is exactly what happened.

Attached are the meeting minutes.

Regarding the Nili budget, another incident occurred that undermines proper administration and is therefore serious in my view. But that will have to wait for next week’s newsletter.

Yours,

Limor Zar-Guttman

The “Lema’an HaMoshava” Party