Government agrees to two more deputy mayors in J'lem

Following intense pressure from ultra-Orthodox parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, the government is expected to submit a bill to the Knesset today that would increase the number of deputy mayors in Jerusalem to eight. This would essentially provide ultra-Orthodox parties with two more municipal-paying jobs - one for Shas and the other for UTJ.

The wages for deputy mayors in Jerusalem in recent years have stood, on average, at NIS 42,000 per month. This does not include the expenses for office space and aides, an additional monthly expense of several tens of thousands of shekels.

The bill will be brought before the Knesset in a preliminary reading following persistent pressure from Shas and UTJ. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has a broad coalition, but he opted to assign deputy mayor positions to parties that expressed public support for him from the start.

This meant that even though UTJ has nine members on the city council, it only received one paid deputy mayor position; Shas, who has only four council members, did not receive a paid deputy mayor post. Meretz, on the other hand, which supported Barkat openly and has only three council representatives, has a paid deputy mayor position, as does the Yerushalayim Beiteinu party, with only two council positions.

The controversial bill was the result of negotiations held by Barkat during his efforts to set up a coalition. The elected mayor promised the ultra-Orthodox parties that he would push for legislation that would grant them paid positions in return for their support.

The bill was initiated by MK Uri Maklev of UTJ, who previously held an administrative position at the Jerusalem municipality, and is backed by Zeev Elkin, MK David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu), MK Avraham Michaeli (Shas) and Knesset Finance Committee chairman Moshe Gafni (UTJ).

Efforts to rally government support for bringing the bill to the Knesset for a preliminary reading failed last week. The issue returned to the government committee on legislation after MK Yaakov Margi (Shas), who is a member of the committee, petitioned that the matter be deliberated again. The bill is nearly guaranteed to enjoy a majority in the Knesset. Shas confirmed yesterday that they will pressure the coalition to back the proposal.

"Our bills are attacked by the coalition," a Shas source said. "We told the coalition administration on a number of occasions that the government needs to decide whether Shas is part of the coalition or not. Other bills we have proposed are being delayed for irrelevant reasons by the coalition administration."

Shas members were keen to point out yesterday that the person behind the bill was the secular mayor of Jerusalem, Barkat, and along with the ultra-Orthodox MKs, secular MKs are also backing the bill.

"We must not forget that [Shas leader] Eli Yishai is Interior Minister. He is in constant touch with mayors in Israel, including Barkat, and he hears his requests," Shas sources said.

At the municipality they rejected the notion that the bill was meant to satisfy the need to provide party cronies with jobs.

"The cost of appointing two deputy mayors is low compared to the stability necessary in Jerusalem," municipal sources said yesterday, linking the appointments with direct political considerations. "There had been eight deputy mayors in the past. The current law recognizes a ratio between the number of citizens to the number of deputy mayors, but it stopped at 500,000, while the current population is 800,000. The deputy mayors of Shas and UTJ have to work for a living, which means that the time they have available for municipal duties is limited. The issue of deputy mayor positions is insignificant compared to the importance of having a broad coalition in place."