Kahlon, Erdan in Deal for Police Raises

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan have come to an agreement that will give police officers a 7 percent raise on average. The plan will cost the government NIS 500 million a year for the next 15 years. To pay for it, other Ministries are going to have their budgets cut.

The raise is being given based on a 40-year-old decision that was never implemented – to link the salaries of police officers and prison workers to career IDF soldiers. The 7 percent raise comes as compensation for those payments, which will be spread over the next 15 years, Calcalist reported. The decision to pay out now was made by Kahlon and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, after the state lost in a lawsuit brought by police unions in the National Labor Court.

According to Globes, Netanyahu and Kahlon decided to move ahead with the deal in light of the likelihood that elections will be held earlier than planned. The plan will require an immediate cut in government expenditures of NIS 1.2 billion (covering the two years of the current budget). A decision has not yet been made on what exactly those cuts will include.