The Rehovot municipality petitioned the High Court of Justice last week to order Minister of the Interior Avraham Poraz to cancel the Weizmann Institute's longstanding exemption from municipal property taxes. The municipality petitioned to prevent changes in the criteria that would further exempt Weizmann Institute from municipal taxes.
The petition states that in February 2003, the High Court of Justice ruled in favor of the Rehovot municipality and ordered the Ministry of the Interior to reconsider Weizmann Institute's exemption from municipal taxes, and to set criteria for exemptions from municipal taxes.
The Rehovot municipality claims that in the 14 months since the ruling, the Ministry of the Interior had not reviewed Weizmann Institute's eligibility for an exemption.
The municipality claims that it is absurd that the Weizmann Institute's NIS 660 million budget is 45% larger than the municipality's. The municipality claims to have a budget deficit of NIS 49 million and a cumulative deficit of NIS 130 million. It claims that Weizmann Institute should pay NIS 35 million a year in municipal taxes, which would cover two-thirds of the municipality's deficit.
Haifa wants the Sixth Fleet back
At a meeting last week, Haifa Mayor Yona Lahav and Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz decided that municipal and ministry officials would jointly reevaluate the amount the ministry should pay in municipal taxes for property in the city.
Lahav and Mofaz also discussed moving IDF bases outside the city. Mofaz said the Haifa municipality's demand to move the bases conformed with the ministry's position to move IDF bases from urban areas to unsettled locations.
Mofaz also promised Lahav that he would act to have the US Sixth Fleet resume its visits to Haifa.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on April 25, 2004