“The municipalities are not the state budget adjustment variable”

JEAN PIERRE DE FARIA MAIRE DE SAINT AMBROIX Midi Libre – ALEXIS BETHUNE

JEAN MICHEL PERRET MAIRE DE SAINT HILAIRE DE BRETHMAS Midi Libre – ALEXIS BETHUNE

Jean-Michel Perret, maire de Saint-Hilaire-de-Brethmas et Jean-Pierre De Faria, maire de Saint-Ambroix dénoncent les mauvais choix stratégiques du gouvernement en terme de restriction des moyens dédiés aux communes et agglos. 

On March 12, the national office of the Association of Small Towns of France (APVF), which includes Jean-Pierre De Faria (Nouveau center) and Jean-Michel Perret (DVG), expressed its serious concerns regarding to the threat of new savings measures impacting local authorities.

With 10 billion ’€ deleted from the budget, certain measures linked to the ecological transition can no longer be financed by town halls and urban areas that are already greatly weakened.

Local elected officials reassured

"The mayors are not indifferent to the drift in deficits and the need to control the public debt, proclaims the mayor de Saint-Ambroix, Jean-Pierre De Faria, but I remind you that local authorities bear no responsibility for this degradation. We assume more than 20% of public spending, for only 9% of public debt. We apply a revenue/expense balance."

Two years before the end of their mandate, the mayors have also engaged in work projects, particularly in the field of thermal renovation of buildings or the maintenance of their heritage.

This is the case in Saint-Hilaire-de-Brethmas where costly but necessary work has been carried out in recent years. "Cutting back on these infrastructure investments would have very detrimental consequences for buildings and public works, and would not make it possible to achieve the objectives set within the framework of ecological planning", estimates Jean-Michel Perret.

Elected officials demand more concertation

The chosen one has come back: "The government and senior officials who claim to be a strategic state are poor generals. Their budgetary and tax policies fall under the design of the Maginot line. We no longer want to pay for the mistakes of successive governments."

"Local authorities cannot be simple variables for adjusting the budgetary and fiscal strategies of the State", castigate the Gard mayors.

In a press release, the APVF calls on the Government to "cease the policy of fait accompli in matters of financial relations between the State and the communities", and to implement real consultation with the associations of elected officials through "the holding of meetings of local finances, a High Council of Local Finances to assess the concrete impact of these savings on communities and define a common and predictable trajectory."
 

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