Brawl in the Petah Tikva Municipality: Opposing the budget for Haredi institutions

April 1, 2014   

A section in the Petah Tikva municipality's 2014 budget is causing controversy among the city's secular residents: A central section seeks to increase the rental budget for buildings in the city's Haredi schools. For example, it states that for the rental of two educational institutions for the Haredi, the municipality will allocate over a million shekels, which is twice as much. To this end, the municipality is preparing to make cuts in various places, including summer events. This area is in the sights of former mayor Uri Ahad and some of the representatives, who last year cut about 5 million shekels for it. After the municipality decided to allocate only about 2.5 million shekels for the Kik events this year, many opponents are emerging in the opposition and among the city's residents, claiming that "last year's budget should be left intact, and perhaps even increased. This is about a service to the residents, especially in the summer months, when large sums are usually spent on activities," they said, and made it clear that they would not support the cuts made for the Haredi institutions. In light of this, the municipality responded to the comments, saying that "due to the need to build additional educational buildings in the city, the municipality rented two buildings, among others for special education students from the Haredi sector who were forced to travel outside the city. The municipality decided to rent a building for them, thereby making it easier for them and their families.".