Bnei Brak Audit Chief Demands Personal Liability Over Funds to Abandoned Building
The Bnei Brak audit committee chair urged the interior ministry to hold officials personally liable after over half a million shekels were approved for accessibility upgrades at an abandoned building.
The municipality of Bnei Brak approved a budget of over half a million shekels for installing an elevator and an acoustic ceiling in an abandoned building slated for demolition, according to a letter sent to the Ministry of Interior by Shlomo Alboum, the chairman of the municipal audit committee. In his letter, Alboum urged the ministry to initiate a procedure examining the possibility of recovering the funds directly from the personal pockets of Mayor Hanoch Zibert, municipal treasurer Aharon Adler, and the council members who voted in favor of the budgets.
According to Alboum's document, the municipality approved accessibility budgets for the Ekshtein Seminary based on its old address at 131 Kahaneman Street, even though the institution had already vacated the premises. The building stands as an abandoned ruin, and a check reveals that in June 2022, a plan was approved to establish a transportation terminal on the site, followed by a demolition permit issued in July 2023. Alboum wrote that this was not a minor error but a recurring and systematic pattern of behavior, noting that he had repeatedly warned the council about the situation during relevant meetings.
Budget Approvals and Deficit Context
The documents show that in June 2025, under the heading of physical accessibility for the school, a budget of 411,820 shekels was approved, comprising 326,000 shekels from the Ministry of Education and 85,000 from municipal funds. In September, an additional 40,000 shekels was approved for acoustic and sensory accessibility for hearing-impaired students at the same vacant address. By December, the municipality requested an additional 118,000 shekels for the elevator, bringing the total approved for the two projects to 570,000 shekels.
"This is not a minor mistake but a recurring and systematic pattern of behavior, adding insult to injury," wrote Alboum in his letter to the Ministry of Interior, emphasizing that the municipality ignored repeated warnings.
Alboum's appeal to the Ministry of Interior was sent three days after the ministry imposed severe restrictions on the municipality due to a deficit of approximately 130 million shekels accumulated since the beginning of 2025. The municipality ended 2025 with an 80 million shekel deficit, followed by another 50 million in the first half of 2026. Consequently, Tzvika Inbinder, the head of the Tel Aviv district at the Ministry of Interior, froze personal contracts and salary upgrades while demanding an emergency recovery plan.
Municipal Response and Audit
The municipality explained that its deteriorated financial state stemmed from difficulties in collecting property taxes due to ministry delays in approving resident discounts, unexpected expenses for teacher assistant salaries, and declining revenues amid the ongoing conflict. The Ministry of Interior stated in response that it is examining the financial conduct of the Bnei Brak municipality across various aspects beyond the specific case presented by Alboum. The municipality of Bnei Brak declined to comment on the allegations.
