Communities, in good financial health? The note from state services that we are revealing puts local elected officials on edge. “There is a lot of brainwashing, reacts the mayor of Cannes David Lisnard, boss of the AMF (Association of Mayors of France). Local authorities made precautionary savings because of the situation and had to lower investment projects by 15%. Inflation penalizes us enormously. »
Same story at the Association of Regions of France (ARF). “It is the law that obliges us to generate a surplus, we have no right to go into debt for our operation”, recalls the president of the Occitanie region Carole Delga, at the head of the ARF. “Next year, it’s true, the dynamics of VAT will bring us 750 million euros. But, at the same time, the regions will spend 1000 billion more (heating of high schools, school transport, cost of rail, buses, etc.)! »
Arm wrestling tense between local elected officials and the government
Communities must also bear the increase in the index point for civil servants, which came into force last July. This Saturday, nine associations of elected officials, including the powerful AMF (association of mayors of France) asked Elisabeth Borne for an “emergency energy shield” for communities.
The executive promises to listen, but is wary: “I have never heard local communities not protest, blows a government communicator. It’s a Pavlovian reflex. To which are added the political ulterior motives of associations led by our opponents. »
In short, the arm wrestling promises to be tense between local elected officials who are demanding indexation to inflation of their global operating grant (DGF) and the government which is preparing to release an additional 210 million euros by amendment DGF during the budget review — this would be the first increase in the DGF for 13 years. “Yes, but it’s only a quarter of what inflation indexing would bring,” thunders David Lisnard.