This is a record in twenty years of investigation. More than one in two mayors (55%) do not wish to stand again at the end of their mandate in 2026, according to an Ifop* poll published on Wednesday on the second day of the congress of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF). In detail, the oldest mayors are the quickest to throw in the towel (72% of those over 70), as are rural mayors (56%) and those whose operating budget is at least 10% spent on energy (62%).
90% of elected officials questioned say they are worried about the rise in energy prices for the budget of their municipality, underlines this survey carried out for the company Hellio, specializing in energy management, and the magazine acteurs publics.
“In this context where a record number of mayors are considering throwing in the towel, this survey is the first to show that this explosion in prices is pushing some to not pay their bill, or even to merge with a neighboring municipality”, underlines the ‘Ifop in a press release.
Less heat, turn off the lighting.
Thus, 16% of the mayors questioned plan to merge with a neighboring municipality to cope with the rise in prices, “sign of fears about the sustainability of the hexagonal municipal fabric”, and 12% think of not paying their supplier the additional cost generated by energy inflation.
More than half of the mayors (55%) also plan to pool their energy supplies with other local authorities to reduce costs. Finally, out of the 609 respondents, 63% of mayors say they are unhappy with the government’s action to help municipalities cope with rising energy prices.
Regarding the responses to these issues, 85% of mayors intend to heat their premises and equipment less, 82% to cut the lighting at night, 24% to increase local taxes and 74% to start work energy renovation. Only 9% want to close public services.
* Survey carried out by telephone from October 20 to November 10 with 609 elected representatives of the mayors of France, according to the quota method.