The Association of Palestinian Local Authorities (APLA) warned against the risk of local authorities collapsing as a result of not transferring their entitlements by the Ministry of Finance, which has obstructed them from performing their tasks and duties. This warning came during a meeting of APLA’s executive committee held on Saturday, August 21st, 2019 in presence of APLA’s chairman, Eng. Mousa Hadid, members of the executive committee and APLA’s executive manager, Eng. Abdullah Anati.
APLA’s executive committee asserted its full awareness and knowledge of the grave challenges faced by the Palestinian government, particularly the difficult financial situation resulting from the occupation policies and decisions to deduct money from Palestinian taxes. The committee clarified that local authorities understand the current situation and are practicing due diligence in this regard. However, it noted that the transfer of local authorities’ entitlements is not the result of the latest financial crisis, but rather a long-standing issue. It also noted that local authorities depend greatly on the revenues collected by the Ministry of Finance on their behalf. Blocking such funds resulted in reducing the services provided by local authorities to the public, their inability to meet their financial commitments towards vendors, and obstructing and stopping work on several development projects. APLA stressed that additional delay in transferring entitlements to local authorities will result in them having to halt some of their services due to their inability to cover the costs. This delay will obstruct local authorities from meeting their commitments to their staff as well. APLA renewed its call for local authorities to pay their dues to the government in order to zero the balance between local authorities and the government.
APLA renewed its rejection of the Ministry of Finance claims requesting local authorities to pay income tax on their revenues. It stressed on the special status of local authorities, they are non-for-profit institutions that seek to increase their revenue and sources of income in order provide services to the public. APLA renewed its call for stopping such procedures that have negative impact on the work of local authorities.
On another note, the executive committee discussed the proposed amendment of the Law on the Election of Local Authority Councils and stressed on the importance of amending this law to ensure addressing the problems that may arise during the elections and any resulting problems in the work of elected local councils. APLA prepared its position and observations on the proposed amendment in order to submit them to the Ministry of Local Government.
The executive committee adopted the report of the independent certified auditor and APLA’s financial data of 2018. It also adopted the content of the financial and accounting manual under development in order to develop and institutionalize APLA’s work in all aspects. The executive committee also adopted the report of APLA’s financial committee as well as a number of internal regulations and instructions recommended by the financial committee.
The executive committee also adopted the executive framework and the plan to develop the work of “Expertise Exchange Platforms” implemented by APLA in partnership with GIZ. On another note, it decided to develop a training program for Palestinian local authorities on the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals in the local level. It also approved the agenda of the Palestinian-French Partnerships Conference to be held end of October in Palestine.
