Budget cuts. 400 to 500 positions cut at the Haute-Garonne Departmental Council

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Clouds are gathering over the Haute-Garonne Departmental Council, which will not escape the dark cuts promised to all communities in France.

The day after a rally at the prefecture, Toulousewhere around a hundred mayors and elected officials from all sides denounced in unison the impact of the finance bill on the budget of local authorities, the president Sebastien Vincini shared this Friday, November 8, 2024, painful news with the union organizations.

He indeed presented “the efforts that will have to be made” in terms of human resources. Announcements corroborated immediately by its vice-president Sabine Geil-Gomezwho sent an email to all staff to explain the situation.

“Difficult choices” on human resources

Referring to an “exceptional context”, the Department informed its agents that it “has no other choice but to reduce its expenditure to achieve a total effort of 160 million euros during the vote on the 2025 Primary budget,” indicates the community Toulouse News.

Although the Department Council has “implemented all means in its possession to limit the effects” on staff, “the seriousness of the situation leads it to make difficult choices, with the aim of guaranteeing the very sustainability of the community”.

In the current state of the information available to us, this completely unprecedented effort is between 20 and 25 million euros for the Department's human resources.

Agent remuneration maintained

“The choice was made to maintain the level of remuneration of all agents, in order to preserve their purchasing power”, however reassures the community, whose headquarters is located on Boulevard à Marquette in Toulouse, and which employs some 7 200 agents au total.

400 to 500 agents will not be renewed

On the other hand, the contractual — many hired with additional work — have concerns: “The community is forced not to replace or renew the contracts of 400 to 500 community agents in 2025.”

The Departmental Council specifies that “this will primarily concern temporary replacement agents and of reinforcementwith the exception of certain particularly sensitive positions in terms of public service continuity.” These job cuts are planned “all services combined”.

Will the subsidy for firefighters decrease?

Is this bad news the prelude to more? These 400 to 500 jobs do not concern not the satellites of the Department, as Haute-Garonne Tourism. This also does not include the SDISfinanced 66% by the Departmental Council, which could have no other choice than to lower your subsidy to the firefighters.

On Thursday, surrounded by elected officials from all walks of life, Sébastien Vincini warned: “It is the daily lives of our fellow citizens that will be impacted. Next year, there will be fewer firefighters available in Haute-Garonne and the planned fire stations will not open.” Inevitably, according to him, the “intervention times” of firefighters “will increase”.

Sébastien Vincini wants to “make the voice of the Department heard”

Still according to the community, Sébastien Vincini remains mobilized to attempt to change the position of the government: “The president assured all agents of his full mobilization to make the voice of the Department heard in the various national authorities, and to recall the consequences of these decisions, both on public service for each citizen and on life territorial agents”.

A “stop to public investment”

Mid-October, during an exchange with Toulouse NewsPresident Vincini had already estimated that the famous “effort” requested by the State from local authorities to replenish the coffers would sound like “a stop to public investment. “Will we be able to maintain free teleassistance for the elderly? And what will our citizens say if we charge? Will we have to reduce home help? » the president then openly questioned. ” I am worried about public services proximity and social support in the country. There will be a real social breakdown.”

From then on, he announced the color: after the plan announced by the State on the finances of the Department, it was missing “for 2025, a minimum of 164 million is missing to complete the budget estimated at 1.670 billion euros”.

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