Herzliya councilor slams excessive fees on sports clubs

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Herzliya city councilor Yaron Olami has criticized the city for charging local sporting organizations excessive amounts for using the municipal stadium and training grounds, reports www.local.co.il. Olami said it was "absurd" that in many cases sporting bodies were being charged more for using the stadium and grounds than they received from the city in annual funding. According to the report, Olami found that the Hapoel Herzliya soccer club (adults) received NIS 97,000 from the city but then had to pay the city NIS 199,000 to use the stadium and training grounds. Hapoel Herzliya's youth club received NIS 111,000 but had to pay NIS 128,000. Maccabi's youth club received NIS 332,000 but had to pay NIS 342,000. Olami said the result was that all the clubs had been left with large debts to the city, and said an immediate end had to be brought to the situation. He said that at the next council meeting he would propose large reductions in the hourly tariffs charged to the city's clubs, so that the youth clubs would pay only 25 percent of the tariff. A municipal spokesman responded that the issue would be raised at the next council meeting, and that Mayor Yael German had taken the matter to heart and was "clarifying it with full seriousness."