While François Bayrou took office as Prime Minister in mid-December, Philippe Dupouy sent him the 2024 unpaid invoices from the Gers Departmental Council, of which he is president. A way for elected officials to warn about state debts.
“Regularization of your situation vis-à-vis the Gers, the Gersoises and the Gersois”, here is the title of the invoice addressed to the government. Philippe Dupouy, president of the Departmental Council of Gers, sent a strong letter to the new Prime Minister François Bayrou, and to the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by a symbolic invoice detailing the 43.1 million euros that the State owes the Department for the year 2024. An approach denouncing a critical financial situation which affects local public policies.
Gers calls on François Bayrou
In his letter, Philippe Dupouy explains: “We have calculated this debt that the State owes to Gers for the sole year 2024. Through this symbolic action, it is a question of alerting, of striking people's minds on the extent of the injustice done to Gers. Since 2004, the State has in fact transferred social skills to the Departments, the costs of which are no longer fully compensated. For Gers, this under-compensation reaches precisely 43.1 million euros in 2024. »
This sum represents undercompensated social charges, particularly linked to the RSA, the APA and the PCH, as well as to measures imposed by the State, such as the revaluation of the index point or the Ségur bonuses. This shortfall is equivalent to five times the annual budget for renovating departmental roads.
Philippe Dupouy thus calls on the new Prime Minister to take up the issue: “To rest on [les collectivités locales] a disproportionate share of the national debt would irremediably compromise this ideal [de décentralisation] and would permanently weaken the republican edifice that we have built. » He then asked François Bayrou to ensure that the Departments, and in particular the Gers, were not the victims of national budgetary arbitrations.
A bill to mark the spirits
The president of Gers accompanies his alert with a detailed invoice addressed to François Bayrou and Emmanuel Macron. It identifies underfunded positions, including:
- RSA : 15,3 millions d’euros
- APA: 14.3 million euros
- PCH : 7,8 millions d’euros
- Measures imposed by the State: 4.7 million euros
Philippe Dupouy insists on the seriousness of the situation: “The situation is profoundly unfair and totally disconnected from the reality of the territories. The Departments, like that of Gers, no longer have the capacity to raise taxes. We are entirely dependent on state funding, which has not changed for more than ten years. »
The president concludes by highlighting the potential impact of budgetary decisions: “If the 2025 Finance Bill, for which you are now responsible, were to reproduce the orientations of its predecessor, he would sign the death warrant of many essential initiatives carried out by the rural Departments. »
