(haipo) – The Haifa City Council is expected to approve tomorrow (Tuesday, 4/2/25) the municipal security levy, which is expected to bring approximately 36.7 million shekels a year into the municipality's coffers.
The new law, designed to strengthen the city's security and surveillance system, is eliciting mixed reactions from Haifa residents, who are forced to deal with the rising cost of living, economic cuts, and the VAT increase.
Dedicated fund
The Haifa Municipal By-Law regulates the authority of the municipality to act on issues of security, public order and surveillance, in accordance with the guidelines set by the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of National Security and the Minister of Justice. The law allows the local authority to collect a designated tax from the city's residents, which will be used to finance municipal security services that are not funded from other sources.
According to the bylaw, the security levy funds collected will be deposited in a designated fund, which will be used exclusively for security and safety purposes. The frequency and dates of collection will be determined by the local council, and the amounts will be updated in accordance with the established regulations.
Each resident will part with 232 shekels a year for the security levy.
The established levy rate is 2.32 shekels per built-up square meter per year, for three years, until December 19, 2028. This means that the owner of a 100-square-meter apartment will have to pay approximately 232 shekels per year for the maintenance levy, in addition to all other municipal and state expenses.
What will the new security system include?
During the last month (January 2025), preliminary meetings and sessions were held to present the municipal preservation plan.
As part of the discussions, the following elements were approved:
- 90 assistant inspectors – who will patrol throughout the city and form an auxiliary force for municipal policing.
- 6 shift supervisors – who will supervise the activities of the security system.
- 8 patrol vehicles – will be transported throughout the city to provide a rapid response to unusual events.
- 4×4 vehicle – for use in complex terrain conditions.
- 10 motorcycles – which will allow for a rapid response in urgent cases.
- Additional budget for security at municipal events.
- 3 night shift dispatchers – who will operate the municipal hotline.
- Depreciation and overhead expenses – for the maintenance of equipment and associated services.
According to municipal officials, the purpose of the levy is to improve the quality of life in the city by reducing phenomena of unusual noise, vandalism, dumping of construction waste, violence, etc. However, it is emphasized that the powers granted to the municipality under the bylaw do not replace the powers of the police, but rather integrate into its activities within the framework of the law.
Pros and Cons
While the municipality claims that this is a safety necessity designed to deal with security and security problems in the city, some residents disagree. "We already pay high property taxes, and if security needs to be increased, why isn't it budgeted from other municipal revenues?" wonders a resident of the Carmel Center. "It's another tax that burdens us, while the cost of living is only increasing."
On the other hand, there are residents who support the initiative. "If it really leads to an improvement in our sense of security on the streets, then maybe it's worth it," says another resident. "The city can't rely on the police alone."
The decision, as mentioned, is expected to be made at the council meeting to be held tomorrow, and will directly affect Haifa residents in the coming years. Is this a necessary step to strengthen security, or an additional tax that will only burden the city's residents?
Salary cuts for the mayor and his deputies in lieu of the security levy
Haifa City Council member Tatiana John – Chairwoman of the "Connected to Haifa" faction, along with faction members Attorney Yaakov Borovsky and Artyom Kharchenko, submitted a motion of order addressed to the mayor and his deputies, calling for a 15% cut in their salaries and a 10% across-the-board cut in the budgets of the city's departments. The purpose of the motion is to finance the establishment of the integrated municipal policing system, as an alternative to the guard duty.
The proposal was submitted last October, during the period when the issue of the levy was being examined by the municipality.
They opposed the levy in the previous term and are expected to vote in favor in the current one.
A number of council members who are expected to vote in favor of the maintenance levy proposed by Mayor Yona Yahav opposed a similar levy in 2021 proposed by the previous mayor, Dr. Einat Kalisch Rotem, claiming that it burdens residents and increases the financial burden placed on them.
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... They are also sending a maintenance levy to income support recipients who are exempt from property taxes by law. Income support recipients don't even make it through the month, don't know whether to buy food or medicine, and can't afford to pay the levy. Where is the justice and why is the municipality not subject to the National Insurance Law?
The levy has not yet been approved and the municipality has already collected it. In any case, I have already arranged the standing order and paid for the month of January separately because the property tax payment was reduced via standing order on 1.1.26.
So how do they collect if the levy has not yet been approved?
disgrace!
Yahav and the Council of Vanity…
Forced collection of protection...
The police are failing and we are paying the price.
It is unthinkable that any car owner would close a private parking lot on a public sidewalk to the extent of Rotam Street and Hala Street in Kiryat Sprinzak.
The State Comptroller has already determined that most of the money does not go to the benefit of the residents, it is being squandered in the city for other things. There is no sense of security in the city. When I got my car stolen, I asked the city to try to monitor it with street cameras (which, according to the city, "we have networked" the entire city with cameras). The answer I received was that it has nothing to do with us. There is no camera on the street, but there are cameras at the Horev intersection, you can try to check. Nothing. So we are the usual suckers who pay when it is known that the current mayor does not know how to manage money as happened in his previous term, he is probably hoarding it just in case.
It's just a shame that Yahav and his five deputies refused a 5 percent cut in their salaries, as proposed by the opposition party. Instead, they approved the security levy that will be added to the property tax payment, which is already the highest in the country.
How the residents are slaughtered
Municipalities must not be allowed to collect additional levies beyond property taxes.
How do you get accepted to work in municipal policing?
Hahaha! Big.
The drink from Kfar Kana...!
Simply impudence in the name of civil protection.
I haven't heard that the municipality has cut anything in their excessive conditions for the sake of increasing safety. An additional 3 million shekels for gifts, events, escorted vehicles, standard upgrades, hotel conferences.
a question:
Isn't it appropriate that public employees - municipality, education - who are not residents of Haifa and who benefit from increased security while in the city during the day also pay the levy as a percentage of their salary?
This is another method to raise property taxes, there is no end to it, what will happen if you receive less and pay more?
I'm glad I live in a rental.
We are finishing the agreement for the apartment we live in in 4 months. We will not continue for another year or we will move to Bialik to the new neighborhoods.
In Haifa, property taxes are among the highest in the country, and there is no need to burden residents any further.
They are hoarding the money of the rich so that they can receive fat salaries from the public's money. Audacity.
First they start working there in the city hall and then they'll think about charging us money. Most of the departments are full of free foodies who come to work and not to work.
Take this money from the sewer fee. It's no longer fun to live in this city anyway.
Why is there a police force in the city, the body that is supposed to maintain public order?
And if residents are already being charged a security levy, that means that if there are offenses that are not addressed, the Haifa Municipality can be sued directly, and that's how we will proceed. In other words, a robbery levy.
The problem with the police is that they simply refuse to come…
We called many times about unusual noise, threats,...
They don't care... they just say the referral is being processed and that's it.
Or they send us to a community police officer, and he is also unwilling to intervene and sends us to the courts to issue restraining orders.
It's just a shame. Citizens have no protection against criminals and lawbreakers.
And of course they know this is the case and allow themselves to go wild and do whatever they want because they know the police don't care.
The right decision would be not to impose the tax on residents, which would again harm the elderly population in the first place, who are already having a hard time without the tax. And young couples, who live in rentals, and are already eating into their parents' pensions. Proposal 1 was that the mayor and his deputies, for example, would set an example for citizens, and reduce their salaries a little. To bite into the weaker classes again would be a justified reason for young people, once again and forever, to leave Haifa. There are now quite a few offers for young couples to purchase apartments around Haifa, and live better financially. The Haifa of old is not what it is today. And people will think twice, whether to move to Haifa, or to check out the periphery.
The corruption party continues and we are still silent, we are fed up, we are simply fed up.
It's better to leave everything and literally fly away from this stinking place.
I would welcome the imposition of an additional tax on citizens if the municipality would publish, alongside the law, its commitment to absorbing worker mobility and presenting a regular work plan.
All this in addition to the mobility and manpower employed today.
Yahav and his gang of clowns are waking up fashionably late. The city needed this setup during the war, during the fires. Now? All the 'council members' who voted against just to hurt the cliché caused us residents to be hurt. In other words, they didn't act for the residents, they acted against the mayor. It's called a gimmick. They shouted like crazy that she didn't do anything and then they copy-pasted everything she wanted to do, and because of you and your bribers, it didn't happen.
Blessed is the believer. Will it increase personal security? Will it increase enforcement? Will it deal with neighbor disputes? Buses with external speakers? Traffic enforcement? That will define exactly the goals and not just like that in general.
They will only be 'busy' where a knife is waved or a gun is drawn. And even that is only in some neighborhoods, some neighborhoods are dangerous to walk around in. They won't be there. In short, you'll find them in Paz Romema near the food truck.
This should be the state's responsibility and not at the expense of the city's residents. And what happened to need such security in Haifa? It wasn't until a few years ago.
I really hope this will start soon and a quick and effective response will be provided to the residents' plight!
Unfortunately, the Israeli police do not respond to most complaints.
Maybe it's time to leave this shitty city. Wait, if my house is broken into, I can sue the municipality for negligence and failure to comply with the agreement. Come on, Haifa Municipality, increase employment opportunities, bring in the international airport, and see how there will be money for more free eaters in the municipality. Shame on you for the very idea.
And who will ensure that this money doesn't get swallowed up in the general budget - and contribute nothing to our security?
The cat?
The words: "The municipality's coffers will rake in 36.7 million shekels" are, in my opinion, inaccurate.
It is implied from them that the municipality will earn this money from the public.
The stated amount, if accurate, is the income that should go into the municipality's coffers, but the question is clearly what the amount of the expenditure will be and whether, after the expenditure, there will be a credit balance in the municipality's coffers.
Personally, I am in favor of increasing enforcement. To carry out proper enforcement, it must be implemented by professionals. It must be ensured that professionals will actually do this and not that the system will be operated by authorized parties.
The call to finance expenses from personal salaries in the municipality is ridiculous populism.
If any party wants to make a change in the compensation system for municipal employees, there is a way, the main one being to contact the ministries of the Interior, the municipal auditors, the State Comptroller and Auditor General, etc.
Not through a few ridiculous words spoken at a city council meeting, so that the citizens of the city will be misled into thinking that someone is caring about them.
Important article, Samar.