Dotan Levy, calcalist.co.il.
A municipality that blames its professionals for their losses is a pretty rare sight, but that's exactly what the Ramat Gan municipality did in a recent hearing before the Tel Aviv District Compensation and Reconciliation Commission.
In this hearing, the municipality claimed that over the years the appraisers it hired gave missing estimates and caused it tens of millions of shekels.
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The appeal dealt with the ruling of Boaz Kot. In this case, the municipal appraisers actually gave a high valuation of the property, and the decisive appraiser was the lower appraisal, but the city's representatives argued, among other things, that their position in this case should be taken into account, because for years in other cases they suffered damage from the low appraisals of other appraisers.
Carmel Shama the priest mayor of Ramat Gan
According to city officials, led by Nurit Dayan, head of the Property Division, Kot's valuation of the lot in the stock exchange is much lower than its real value, and Kut's decision to reduce tens of millions of shekels worth of land in the stock exchange for the purpose of calculating a misguided levy and damages the public.
One of the arguments they made to support their position surprised those in attendance, according to which the municipality must consider past losses of tens of millions of shekels in similar assessments because of the mistaken judgment of appraisers who worked for and represented it. The main argument was that the local committee appraisers used to reduce 50% of the lot's value due to the Azure clause (a clause that limits the validity of the building rights at a given time).
The Appeals Committee, headed by Attorney Benjamin Zalmanovich, did not accept the city's claims, imposed NIS 40,000 on it, and even rebuked her arguments and accusations against the professionals she herself employed: "It seems to her that she should be treated with respect by her professionals and not spend Their slander is bad only for you to be financially rewarded.Conduct in the case before us has damaged her status as a public authority.The arousal is a public trustee , a responsibility that requires her to act with restraint and fairness. "
The appeal filed by the Ramat Gan Municipality concerns the plot on Abba Hillel Street 23-19, on a 3.2 dunam area, held in Susa (joint ownership without defining boundaries between the holders) by Shalem Group of Arctic Group and Haddishim, which it represented in the " Anat Biran. According to the approved plan in the area, a 40-storey office tower and a total area of 45,000 square meters can be built there. In 2016, the two companies announced to the municipality that they intended to sell the land.
The lot in the stock exchange complex in Ramat Gan.Appeals committee accepted the crucial appraiser's positionPhoto: Oral Cohen
As a result, the municipality issued NIS 22.2 million for the levy, at a NIS 44.4 million value, based on a land value of NIS 155 million. The companies, for their part, issued a counterclaim that the proper levy is NIS 8.5 million, according to a value of NIS 17 million, based on land value of NIS 110 million. The overwhelming appraiser Cote determined that the improvement levy should amount to only NIS 10.8 million, based on land value of NIS 96 million.
A few days after the decisive appraiser's ruling, the landowner signed a sale to Rogovin and paid NIS 200 million. The municipality was amazed at the height of the deal and filed an appeal. On appeal, city officials claimed that the landowner had hidden information from them. For example, it was claimed by them that two days before the sale of the lot they were told by the property owner that the lot had no purchaser.