Faced with the drift in public finances, the Regions, Departments and municipalities do not want to pay the bill

La présidente de Région Occitanie, Carole Delga. MAXPPP – NATHALIE AMEN VALS

In the budgetary effort of 60 billion euros that the government has targeted for the draft finance bill, local authorities could contribute up to five billion. The reactions of the president of the Association of Mayors of France, the president of the Regions of France, and presidents of Departments.

David Lisnard, Mayor of Cannes, President of the Association of Mayors of France, Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie Region and President of the Regions of France, Kléber Mesquida, President of the Hérault Department, and Arnaud Viala, President of the Aveyron Department, react to the recurring criticism of the supposed budgetary excesses of the communities they lead. And propose their solutions.

David Lisnard, Mayor of Cannes, President of the Association of Mayors of France

Local authorities are regularly criticized for their supposed budgetary excesses, as Bruno Le Maire repeated again before leaving Bercy. How do you react to this recurring accusation ?

It is really a rather crude and demagogic maneuver, to divert public opinion. It is a way of trying to exonerate oneself from heavy responsibilities in the deterioration of public accounts. There are of course communities that are poorly managed, just as there are poorly managed companies. There may be abuses here and there… But it is up to the residents, the taxpayers, to judge and change the executives.

According to you, local authorities do not represent a major cause of the drift of public accounts ?

The serious and heavy problem of France's public accounts is that of the State and social accounts. This is a factual reality, easy to demonstrate. First, because local authorities do not have the right to borrow for operations. When you borrow in a local authority, it is called the golden rule, it is only for investment. Second element: compared to the wealth of the country, thirty years ago the debt of local authorities represented 9% of GDP. In 2024, this debt represents 8.9% of GDP.

In a financial context that has changed significantly in thirty years…

Yes, while there has been a transfer of charges, a transfer of responsibilities, a transfer of rotten equipment. I am thinking of the roads that have been passed on to us and which are in very poor condition. And while we have fewer and fewer fiscal levers. So, we can clearly see that we have slightly reduced the debt and that it is marginal compared to GDP.

However, still in relation to GDP, the debt of the State and social accounts has increased by 2.5 in 30 years. The State debt has increased by 150%. 92% of the public debt is the State!

Overall, do the municipalities retain a real investment capacity ?

Yes, there is a good level of investment, we are catching up on the delay caused by the Covid pandemic. But projects are taking longer and longer to implement. There is such a bureaucracy, which never stops growing! There is also legal uncertainty. The law has become so abstruse and the legal frameworks are so contradictory: urban planning law will contradict environmental law, which itself will contradict the rules of public procurement.

So, with all that, today, either you sometimes give up on projects because of the tangle of legal and administrative constraints, or you do your project but you put yourself in legal insecurity. And there are many reasons for mayors to resign, this difficulty in meeting the expectations of residents, this difficulty in carrying out things because of the growing bureaucracy for municipalities.

“Local authorities cannot do everything” believes Arnaud Viala

"À “With rare exceptions, local authorities have a stable budget because they have an obligation to do so,” notes Arnaud Viala, the president (various right) of the Aveyron Department.”I therefore did not understand the angle of attack of Bruno Le Maire for whom I otherwise have respect. Because local authorities know how to maintain investment margins at the same time" he adds.

Deploring "a very unfair trial", while municipalities, Departments or Regions "represent a tiny part of the national debt", Arnaud Viala also believes that’"in France, if we look at the budgetary reality, we have placed expectations on the collective that it can no longer provide. The communities cannot do everything", he judges.

The emergency ? “We need to make our social model sustainable. And to achieve this, we cannot continue to explain, as some do, that we can all retire at 60.”

And Arnaud Viala believes that“a collective and individual rethink is necessary” for everything concerning the subject of public finances. “I, for example, remain reluctant to have certain services be free. Everyone, to the extent of their means, must be able to contribute."

Carole Delga, President of the Occitanie Region, President of the Regions of France

Local authorities are often criticized for their supposed budgetary excesses, as Bruno Le Maire repeated again before leaving Bercy. How do you react?

I am fed up with hearing such lies. We already have a legal obligation to have balanced budgets. And it is on the issue of debt, local authorities only represent 8%. The person responsible for 92% of the French debt is accusing the person responsible for only 8% of this debt. We're walking on our heads!

What does the health bulletin of the Regions of France say in 2024, financially, how are they doing ?

It is still correct but could become worrying. We are the only community not to be helped by the government in the face of the explosion in energy and fuel prices. A decision that was never justified, while the Regions are experiencing the same increases in energy expenditure for high schools, as the Departments have for middle schools, and the municipalities for schools. And we were the only local authority not to be compensated. The municipalities received a billion euros in aid, the Departments 230 million. Zero for the Regions.

And for fuel, we are the local authority that transports the most passengers. The inter-municipal authorities received 100 million euros in aid, and we received zero. So we are drawing on our reserves, while we have an explosion in operating expenses that is not our fault.

But you continue to invest?

Massively. As the various Prime Ministers have asked us to, in order to be able to support growth in France. We, the Regions, largely keep our word. Between 2019 and 2023, we increased our investment by 26%, .
However, you benefit from almost no tax levers anymore?

Absolutely. From now on, for 94% of our revenues we depend on State subsidies. Grants which, I repeat, have not compensated for any expenditure on energy and fuel for the Regions.

What would you recommend ?

We are aware of the state's budgetary situation. Asking for an increase in grants would not be responsible. We are asking at least not to have a decrease. And that we have compensation in 2024 as the others were able to have in 2023. And we are asking for an overhaul of the only tax we have, on registration certificates, which is in decline. There are fewer and fewer cars, and the exemption from the registration card on electric vehicles penalizes us heavily.

But if we want to have a strong investment from France and Europe in reindustrialization, low-carbon mobility, and renewable energies, this will only be possible by taxing companies that have made super profits, and by taxing the highest incomes.

Kléber Mesquida, President of the Hérault Department

You said you were opposed to the elimination of 100,000 local government civil servant positions recommended by the Court of Auditors. For what reasons??

It's very simple, such a reduction would have a negative impact on our public services. If we followed the Court of Auditors' recommendation, our workforce would be reduced by 5.5%, which would result in the elimination of more than 300 departmental jobs that are essential to the people of Hérault. There can be no question of that!

How would the operation be altered ?

Take the road department, which has 461 agents, the reduction in staff would necessarily force us to review road maintenance. Do we want to promote accident rates? ? The forest fire protection service has 95 agents. Imagine the consequences of questioning their firefighting or clearing.

The subject is just as sensitive in middle schools, where we have 835 agents in total, including 65 in the kitchens. Should we do away with canteens for students? What about the 705 employees who maintain schools and classrooms? Should we stop cleaning? ?

As for solidarity, are you worried about the consequences? ?

More than ever! We have 43,000 families being followed within the Departmental House of Autonomy by our 351 agents. Are we going to stop processing files? ? Are we going to stop visits from social workers or nurses? ? We are also following 1,165 children and we are responsible for more than 3,000 children entrusted by decision of the judges. I'll let you imagine their future if we were to cut staff… And for what serious reality ? A reduction in the wage bill of 9 million euros per year.

Certainly, it is a sum, but when we put it in perspective both with the social drama generated by the cuts and the questioning of our public service mission, the State is on the wrong track. The State which, by the way, continues to reduce our operating grants year after year…

What do you recommend then ?

I suggest that we turn to central administrations, to Bercy in particular, a veritable fortress of civil servants which continues to grow and, moreover, complicates the rules.

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