The collection of signatures for the intercommunal referendum against the rescue of the Télé-Dôle company failed. The referendum committee failed to gather the necessary 5,892 signatures, he said on Friday. The population will therefore not be asked to vote on this issue.
“Unfortunately, the necessary signatures could not be collected,” co-president of the Vaud Pirate Party (PPVD) Nils Schaetti, a member of the referendum committee and whose political party supported the referendum, told Keystone-ATS. The final count of the number of initials was not yet known at this stage.
The harvest started on December 6. The committee had until January 10 to collect 5,892 initials, or 10% of the electorate of the 37 municipalities in the Nyon region. Such a referendum on several municipalities was a first in the canton.
The State also provides assistance
The decision to launch it followed the announcement at the end of October by the Nyon Region association, which brings together around forty municipalities on the Coast, to invest 2.62 million francs in the company that owns the ski lifts installed in the La Dôle massif. In the process, the Vaud State Council announced aid of 2.56 million francs.
“We would have to invest 2.6 million francs of our taxes in Télé-Dôle to compensate for its mismanagement, finance vague projects and bet on a future without vision or guarantees. This is unacceptable,” criticized the referendum committee, made up of seven people, on its website. “Let us reject this waste of public funds and demand better management of our resources.”
“No serious cash flow plan or financial plan is presented, and transparency is lacking,” the committee argued. “Nearly 50% of the planned ‘revenues’ are public subsidies. This company is not viable without constant external financing, and the risks are enormous for taxpayers,” he further explained.
Time was running out
As a reminder, meeting on October 30 in St-Cergue, the Intercommunal Council of the Nyon Region largely voted in favor of a notice presenting financing solutions in order to perpetuate the tourist and sports equipment company which notably manages several lifts mechanical. The regional association is the majority shareholder (93%) of Télé-Dôle, itself based in Nyon.
Concretely, the investment credit aims to finalize the developments underway at La Dôle and move towards a four-season restructuring of the area.
The light is now green for these various credits. Which is timely. Time was indeed running out on this matter. The Télé-Dôle company was still threatened with bankruptcy.
