Pay slips worth bringing home for senior officials

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Cities all over Israel may be taking efficiency measures and cutting salaries as the economic crisis continues to make itself felt, but senior municipal officials in the Sharon region still have plenty to smile about in their monthly pay slips, according to a recently released report by the Finance Ministry's public sector salary supervisor. The report for the year 2007 shows that many senior municipal employees were grossing more than NIS 30,000 per month that year, and when non-salary perks and benefits were added in, were costing taxpayers more than NIS 40,000 per month each, according to the Hebrew weekly Yediot Hasharon. The report also pointed out irregularities in salaries paid to municipal employees in several cities. According to the report, the highest earner in Herzliya was city comptroller Natan Lavi, with a gross salary of NIS 34,760 per month and with a total cost to the city of about NIS 47,000 per month. The report pointed out "apparent excesses" in the salaries of five senior figures in Herzliya, including the mayor's secretary, the mayor's adviser and the deputy city manager. A Herzliya municipal spokesman responded that the city operated "in accordance with the law," and that if excessive salaries were indeed found, they would "be taken care of." The report also said that about 100 Kfar Saba employees had been paid excessive overtime payments worth a total of NIS 600,000 in 2007, but that the overpayments were corrected in 2008. It said the highest earner in Kfar Saba was city manager Avi Ben Hamo, with a gross monthly salary of NIS 32,274 and a total cost to the city of NIS 43,900 per month. He was followed by city comptroller Eliezer Fierstein, with a gross monthly salary of NIS 30,507 and a total cost to the city of NIS 42,900 monthly. The highest earner in Ra'anana was city treasurer Amir Bartov, with a gross monthly salary of NIS 33,950 and a total cost to the city of NIS 43,900 monthly. Municipal legal adviser Dafna Keinan was next, with a gross monthly salary of NIS 30,900 and a total cost to the city of NIS 40,200 monthly. As in Ra'anana, the highest earners in Hod Hasharon and in Ramat Hasharon were also the city treasurers, each of whom grossed more than NIS 31,000 monthly and cost the city more than NIS 40,000 monthly.