For them, the calculation is not good. You still have to be able to understand it… Grasse elected officials voted, during the last municipal council, to increase the prices of catering services, mainly for schools (1). An increase of 3.76% for the current school year (far from the 6.4% adopted in December 2022) due to the delegatee Elior Restauration France (market holder until 2029), which asserted its right to application of the price revision formula, provided for in the contract.
With this increase, the unit price of the meal now oscillates, depending on the family quotient, between €3.23 and €5.16 in nursery school, and between €3.32 and €5.67 in elementary school. A rate that Paul Euzière does not understand.
“Almost triple inflation”
“Insee statistics relating to the provisional consumer price index show an increase of 1.3% over one year”, attacks the president of the Grasse à Tous group. Still relying on the INSEE analysis, he argues that this low inflation results, in particular, “a slowdown in food prices”whose annual evolution rises “at +0.2%, then that of fresh products at +1.8% and energy at -0.7%.”
Of the “precise indicators” which prove that “There is no justification for an increase that is almost triple inflation.” Nothing? In fact, yes, there is something: “A Public Service Delegation (DSP) contract”. Recalling that his group “always opposed” at the DSP, with Elior as with Sodexo before, Paul Euzière is drinking whey: “We are in favor of public management [par la collectivité], and once again, this increase proves that we are right.”
Deputy delegate for school canteens, Murièle Chabert specifies that “consumption readings are established from June 2023 to June 2024, on an average.” And that the increase “don’t come out of the hat”but came from “a very complex formula to calculate”based on consumer price and basic wage indices.
“We had no choice”
“You have to be very knowledgeable in mathematics to understand thatasserts Paul Euzière. The updating formulas in the DSPs are incomprehensible, except by those who made them.” He has a calculation “very stupid” to present: “We have an increase of 3.8%, while, over one year, the price index has increased by 1.3%. That is primary.”
Murièle Chabert puts it into perspective: “If we take the first family quotient for kindergarten, we were at 3.11 e meal in 2023 to increase to 3.23 e. That is an increase of 12 cents, and 18 cents for the highest quotient.” She nevertheless recognizes: “It’s still an increase; it doesn’t feel good, but we didn’t have a choice either.” Thus offering the final words to Paul Euzière: “We had no choice, because we are in a DSP…”
1. The collective catering service also concerns the CCAS, the La Rotonde foyer-restaurant, night reception, and meals at home.
