the essential
They will have to express by their vote whether they are in favor, or not, of the exit of their commune from Sivu (Intercommunal Union with a single vocation) of Sud Minervois and the Intercommunal Center for Social Action (Cias). The mayor of Sallèles and his elected officials say they are paying too much for the little investment Sivu has made in their village, while the municipal opposition is asking the municipality to take part of this charge into its main budget, instead of passing it on exclusively. on taxes.
This Saturday, November 23, will be voting day in Sallèles-d'Aude. For weeks, even months, the opposition and municipal majority have been competing with arguments, leaflets and open letters in support, to allow residents to express themselves with full knowledge of the facts within the framework of this famous citizen consultation. The subject: the possible exit of the commune of Sivu du Sud Minervois and more precisely of its Cias, ensuring in particular the management of the nursing home and school catering. The mayor and his team want it, not his opposition elected officials. With 24 hours to go before the vote, everyone is once again putting forward their reasons.
One-way solidarity?
Joan Baco, elected representative of the local community, does not budge: the municipality is paying far too much given the low investment of Sivu in its territory. More precisely, it is the local citizens, via their taxes, who make their contribution. “The idea of pooling these skills and achieving economies of scale is not stupid, provided that the intercommunity is at the service of allhe indicates. This is no longer the case today.”. There would in fact be a gap between the Union's projects in Halle and the village's financial participation. “Sallèles pays much more than other municipalities. I am not against solidarity, but it must not be one-way. As an elected official, I fight for the interests of the Sallèles population!”
And to target the method of calculating this contribution. “Instead of a distribution by population, a distribution is carried out by tax wealth, in other words the theoretical tax potential, including in particular the old professional tax which no longer receives the municipality but the Agglo. The result is that we finance 30% of the operation of Cias, while Sallèles represents less than 25% of its population”. Taxing this entire financial effort: this is what the members of the Halle opposition are criticizing the municipality for on this issue. “We have been asking for a reduction in taxes for several years”recall Yves Lemaître, Martine Coustal, Sylvain Kastler and Danielle Dura. “The State actually wanted the participation of the municipalities to be calculated based on their tax wealth, and Sallèles is indeed a wealthy community, due in particular to the Truilhas activity zone. On the other hand, article 52 12- 16 of the Community Code clearly stipulates that this effort must be assumed by the municipalities: taxation is tolerated, but it is an exception.”
DR
Can a Cias be in balance?
Elected officials thus accuse the municipal majority of placing the financing of Sivu and Cias solely on the shoulders of Salele taxpayers, and of not allocating part of the community's main budget to this component. “Sivu has a total of eleven municipalities, and all the others partly finance it directly”. The opposition from Halle is clear: allocating a part of the main budget to Sivu would mathematically lower taxes on the municipality. “Especially since the services are there: Cias provides eight in Sallèles”. This is the other observation which leads the members of the opposition to push in favor of the no: in the event of leaving Sivu, Sallèles would not have the backs strong enough to finance the various functions of Cias alone, which denies formally Mayor Yves Bastié. But his political opponents are convinced of it: “Recovering all the skills is not possible. Cias represents 82 people: how can this whole system work alone?”
“We chose to tax because we respect fiscal transparency,” retorts Joan Baco. The taxpayer knows where his money is going: municipality, union, Greater Narbonne… In Sallèles, it is clear. Moreover, the municipality's budget is not infinite. This means that other services to the population would have to be cut due to Cias management problems.” For the opposition, it is just the purpose of such a structure: “A Cias is never in balance due to the prices charged for the population, whether it concerns nurseries, nursing homes, leisure centers… On the other hand, it is the municipalities which compensate, not the taxpayers! ” Two visions continue to oppose each other: the citizen consultation desired by the chief magistrate, rare enough to be put forward, will have the merit of giving the last word to the inhabitants of the municipality.
