For years, the mayor of Kiryat Yam Ibn Tzur and the municipality's employees have been fighting for Rafael, which is located in the territory of Kiryat Yam, to pay property taxes and levies to the municipality. Until the signing of the agreement, Rafael was paying a ridiculous and disproportionate amount to its area of the order of 2-4 million NIS h per year.
David Ibn Tzur reports to the city council about the historic agreement with Raphael
(Photo: Kiryat Yam Municipality Spokesperson)
Ibn Tzur led the agreement with Raphael
At the council meeting this evening, Ibn Tzur presented the agreement with Rafael and won the compliments and support of the council members. According to the agreement, each year Rafael will pay the municipality of Kiryat Yam 25 million NIS. The payment for 2022 will be paid within 30 days of the signing of the agreement between the municipality of Kiryat Yam and Rafael. The validity of the agreement is until 2036, 15 years. "We tried to reach Rafa'al with surveyors in order to know the area of the factory, but for security reasons the measurements were not possible.
The agreement we reached is a tremendous achievement for Kiryat Yam and it will be possible to make a real change in the city thanks to this money. Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman was involved in reaching the agreement, as was the Ministry of Defense. A great many of the municipality's employees were mobilized in order to reach this agreement and their contribution was very great. Raphael should report any changes they make to the structure. Our goal is to achieve financial independence for Kiryat Yam and this agreement greatly advances us in achieving this goal."
Hotels on the seaside of Kiryat Yam
Ibn Tzur also said that the agreement with Raphael is very important, but the plan for the seaside is no less important. We are talking here about 70,000 square meters of hotels with property tax higher than the property tax that Raphael pays, and this will put us on the highway. The money we are going to receive from Rafael will be able to answer what we have had to cut in recent years, such as cleaning. We will have the opportunity to put new drainage in the city, pave sidewalks and roads, build buildings for education, another boardwalk on the beach and invest in gardening. This will be a real facelift for Kiryat Yam."
The agreement stipulates that Rafael will start paying full property taxes only from January 2022 and the municipality of Kiryat Yam will not require it to make up the shortfall for the previous years.
Rafael, the Weapons Development Authority, was founded in 1948 as the national security research and development laboratory of the State of Israel in the Ministry of Defense. In 2002, Rafael became a government company and today it is a global company that develops and manufactures combat systems. Rafael is the one that developed the Iron Dome, which provides a response to rocket fire on settlements all over the country. Rafael consists of several branches, two of which are in the north - the David Institute in Kiryat Yam and there near Karmiel.
Coordination between Kiryat Yam and the Geographical Committee of the Ministry of the Interior
As a reminder, in March 2019 the Kiryat Yam Municipality issued a final warning to the "Rafael" company, regarding the remaining property tax debt of seven and a half million shekels, which the company refuses to pay. The warning letter was sent after Interior Minister Aryeh Deri approved about three years ago the conclusions of the Territorial Distribution Committee, which recommended that Rafael be required to pay property taxes to the authorities bordering it.
According to the same recommendations, all the "David Institute" territories, amounting to nearly 7,000 dunams, are associated by law with Kiryat Yam. As a result of the calculation made by the municipality, the annual property tax payment that Rafal must pay as a result of the decision amounted to tens of millions of shekels per year. As of the day the letter was sent, Rafal owed the municipality a balance of 7.5 million shekels, an amount that the company refused pay.
The legal battle
The issue, as mentioned, was discussed and evaluated in court, which ruled in favor of the municipality, but Rafael decided to file an administrative appeal to the district court in Haifa against the decision. Vice President of the Court, Judge Ron Sokol rejected the petition.
The decisive verdict was given in the district court, where Judge Sokol ruled, in the administrative appeal filed by Rafael against property tax charges of NIS 12 million demanded from it by the municipality of Kiryat Yam, after in 2018 all the areas of the David Institute were transferred to the jurisdiction of the municipality of Kiryat Yam.
In the appeal, Raphael claimed that in the territories held by the David Institute there are considerable territories that are held by it and for the State of Israel, therefore, according to the law, it deserves a discount of two-thirds of the property tax charge.
Bringing you is making a deal, he will do what we talked about, he got millions and everything will be, he proved himself to his residents. Takes care of them rolls only for the residents of Kiryat Yam unlike Haifa which has to take care of everyone and the residents of Kiryat Haim and Shmuel thrown to hell. That's how we have it in the Haifa Council, Kiryat Haim representatives, we haven't seen anything since they were elected. Too bad they are all liars!!!
Who will come to the hotels in Kiryat?
There is not even one attraction in Kiryat Yam.
In Kiryat the beaches are neglected and without a marina.
There is no festival or big event in the city.
There is no park near Kiryat Yam.
Find Raphael Yufi, in Kiryat Yam there is no hi-tech, no industrial area or offices, no shopping malls. Backward and not developing - that's the word.