The president of the Departmental Council denounces the orientations of the Prime Minister.
This October 21, 2024, as a preamble to the meeting of the Departmental Council of Lot devoted to education with in particular, on the agenda, the operating allocations of public colleges for 2025 and school catering, Serge Rigal, president of the Department du Lot, raised his voice on the drain announced by the government: “It’s a short session this morning. I will not return to the report which will be presented by Catherine Prunet, an important report on colleges, a priority for us, a strong commitment to the youth of our department. I am going to return to the news which is bothering all the Departments of France today: the decisions of the new Prime Minister who must prepare his budget when he has discovered a deficit never before reached in France. The former Minister of Finance must not have monitored his ministry very carefully. How can we arrive at such a situation and how can a Prime Minister make a decision as important as draining the Departments? This question bothers me. I am angry, cold anger. This current Prime Minister has political commitments and friends: so he cannot go and take money from the rich. It’s not possible for him. You imagine a Prime Minister who would say “dear fellow citizens, I am not going to get money from the rich, I am going to get it from the poor”. It’s not audible. So he didn’t have the courage to say it. So he said to himself: “I’m going to take money from the Departments so that they can punish the poor.” Because inevitably when you drain the Departments, you are going to drain dependent elderly people, you are going to affect disabled people and, worst of all, children in difficulty, early childhood… We are going to have families in total disarray. Penalizing childhood because we don’t want to make the rich pay, what consideration for the youth and the future of our country! Going to take money from families who receive the RSA is certainly not knowing the world of people in difficulty. For lack of courage, the Prime Minister is forcing us to do it. We must denounce it loud and clear! What will happen to us is:
– freezing of the general operating allocation, the DGF. It will even fall due to inflation.
– reduction of one and a half billion in green background,
– freezing of the share of VAT for communities,
– reduction in the VAT fraction that we were promised dynamic two years ago,
– levy on our operations: 5 million at once!
It is therefore a total of 8 million directly that the Prime Minister wants to take from a “rich” Department like ours.
And we remember that we have already compensated 10 million euros in State decisions regarding home help, RSA, civil servants. Which was normal, there was no discussion. But the State had not planned any revenue.
8 + 10 = 18 million euros, here is the part that the Lot will have to contribute to the recovery of France to the detriment of the most deprived; which is unbearable for us who are responsible for social action.
The 5 million euros, we are told that they will return them to us. But I find it hard to believe it. We find it difficult to believe the word of an elected official, we who are elected and who keep our commitments… So how do you expect citizens to believe the word of a politician when we ourselves no longer believe it? »
> Operating allocations for public colleges for 2025 and school catering
“The Department will cover the electricity expenses of all colleges from 2025 with the exception of those of Montcuq and Gambetta in Cahors which have longer contractual commitments, not allowing immediate intervention by the community. The same applies to the Olivier-de-Magny college with regard to the management of energy expenditure by the Region. This internalization will result in a net impact, for the community, of at least 235,000 euros. This intervention will also be supplemented by the direct assumption in 2025, by our community, of boiler room maintenance expenses, which should also lead to giving, to each establishment, additional financial room for maneuver because the corresponding sum is not not deducted from the 2025 allocation” explained Catherine Prunet, vice-president of the Department in charge of culture, education and youth, before returning to school catering: “We have simplified the system with a virtuous perspective . As soon as the establishment purchases, there will be direct support from the 1st euro. And it will be every quarter. Of the cost of a meal produced by the colleges, the Department covers 2/3, i.e. 6 million euros per year out of a total of 9 million euros. We will put 30% on organic, and 25% on local supplies (meat, milk and creation of a quality Lotois bread sector). »
