Press Release

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel: The mayor of Taybe has repeatedly been violating the law, causing municipal mismanagement.

MQG has sent a letter to the mayor of Taybe, its city council and its supervisor of freedom of information, following a report on local government operation during the 2006 fiscal year issued by the department of local government auditing in the Ministry of Interior, which revealed fundamental malfunctions that must be fixed in order to reinstate proper administration.

The report revealed malfunctions including local tax debts, accumulated debts of elected representatives, and the lack of ledgers of contracts, tenders and letters of guaranty.
A - Some city council members have debts to the municipality totaling 104,000 NIS .
B - The municipality holds back contractors’ payments instead of receiving letters of guaranty.
C - The municipality has failed to keep ledgers of contracts, tenders and letters of guaranty.

These malfunctions have caused severe and continuing waste of public funds entrusted to the municipality. Moreover, public funds are for the city and the citizens, and this misuse is deeply harmful to the quality of life and general welfare of the citizens. Therefore, the Movement requests close inspection of municipal activities in the areas of contracts and guaranties, and also requests information regarding contracts with contractors since the beginning of 2004 valued at more than 50,000 NIS. MQG requests the letters of guaranty and registration documents of the contracts, the protocols of meetings in which resolutions were made regarding the contracts, the arguments made prior to the resolutions, and the approvals of the municipal legal counsel, regarding all contracts. MQG also demands information as to whether the municipality continues to transfer funds to a specific contractor.
The municipality has been acting against the law, and contrary to norms of proper administration, for years. Such conduct constitutes a severe blow to the public confidence, and to the citizens' welfare and well being.
The movement is asking for a response within 20 days in order to consider the necessity of taking additional legal measures.