Fuel storage terminal complex, Pi Gillot.
Ashdod (Photo: Yoni Haziz)
No charge a second time: The district court in Be'er Sheva, presided over by Judge Yael Raz-Levy, rejected out of hand a payment demand by the municipality of Ashdod from the company "Delek Pi Galilot" in the amount of NIS 22 million for development levies on the complex of fuel storage terminals, which it established in the Ashdod industrial area 5 decades ago and stated that it is illegal.
Judge Yael Raz-Levi immediately and completely canceled the Ashdod municipality's demand for payment and criticized the municipality's conduct, noting that the municipality changed its position from one hearing to another.
On behalf of the petitioners, Adv. Shmuel Mishuk and Adv. Shimi Golan, expressed satisfaction with the court's decision.
"I regret the fact that despite the sincere attempts to settle the case out of court and to save a lot of public money and the time of the honorable court, the municipality of Ashdod chose to drag the parties into an unnecessary, expensive and hopeless procedure from its point of view, while trying to threaten the petitioners," said D. Shmuel Mishuk.
The affair begins in the early 1970s, when the Pi Galilot company purchased from the Israel Land Authority (RMI) a land complex in the northern industrial zone of Ashdod, on which it built a fuel storage terminal. For this purchase, the company paid the full development expenses as required by the RMI .
In 2019, the municipality of Ashdod produced a demand for payment for those development levies that were paid in the past.
Later, the municipality of Ashdod submitted to Pi Galilot and Abu Yehiel Construction Company Ltd., which acquired control of the company, the demand for payment, since according to it the sums paid at the time to Rami, did not reach it.
Every attempt on the part of the petitioners to explain to the Ashdod municipality that the amount had been paid, while presenting proof of certificates and references on the part of Rami, was met with a puzzling wall of opacity on the part of the municipality. With no choice, the dispute reached the court, where the municipality's claim was rejected outright and was even criticized by the court. Asher stated that the position of the municipality was not consistent during the discussions and in particular in view of the fact that the municipality realized that it was facing a clear legal difficulty in proving its righteousness, in light of the position of Rami who clearly and unequivocally sided with the claim of the petitioners.
In the reasons for the decision, the court argued that first, the development expenses collected by Rami formed part of its budget for the development of the northern industrial area in Ashdod and was anchored in the agreements signed between it and the municipal company for the development of Ashdod, within the framework of which the municipality undertook not to collect additional development levies on top of those paid to Rami.
Second, the levy is a one-time charge - that is, given that development expenses have been paid to the RMI, a double charge is not possible in accordance with the municipality's by-laws.
In conclusion, the district court headed by Judge Yael Raz-Levi ruled that the demand for payment is illegal - and rejected it immediately and in full.
Real estate
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Ashdod
fuel
round feet
