This was the strong measure announced during the budget vote of the Department of Deux-Sèvres, on December 16, 2024: the community freezes all non-obligatory subsidies for the first three months of 2025. A measure of prudence, argues its president, Coralie Unraveled, while waiting to know what budgetary sauce the State will eat from the communities.
“Sterile and irresponsible controversies”
“This freeze means that we are not spending money we don’t have. Like a citizen who waits to know the amount of the bonus to which he will be entitled, before deciding to purchase a car”compared this Friday January 17, 2025 Coralie Dénoues, during a press conference intended to clarify the position of the Department.
Expenses placed under cover until March 31? They affect all areas where the Department intervenes even though it is not obliged to do so by law. Agriculture, sport, culture, tourism, the environment, aid to municipalities: 5 million euros in operating expenses, 2 million euros in investment, 1.6% of the total budget ( 431.5 million euros).
During these three months, associations can submit their files. The municipalities too. But they will not know before March 31 what aid they will be entitled to. During the vote on the 2025 departmental budget, only an overall envelope was set. “Perhaps there will be no consequences on the level of the subsidy granted. Maybe there will be a drop. The certainty is that we will not remove entire sections of our non-mandatory policiesdeclares Coralie Dénoues. We are aware that associations, volunteers and clubs make the heart of the region beat. »
As soon as the budget was voted on in December, Coralie Dénoues picked up her phone to call the leaders of the biggest associations, just to clear the ground. They were mostly understanding, she assures. “Those who pretend not to understand and prefer to create sterile and irresponsible controversies have a short-term vision. They are wrong, that’s not how we get through crises”she says in passing. In the viewfinder, Patrick Machet, president of the departmental Olympic and sports committee, a rare association leader to have criticized the decision in public.
-Not a cent will be paid during these three months, therefore. If associations receive a subsidy during this period, it is because it was included in the 2024 commitments. Aren't some at risk of finding themselves short of cash while waiting for April? Hervé Cochetel, general director of services, explains that the question was indeed raised. “No alert situation has been reported to us until now. »
If until now, no one has found themselves caught in the throat, it is because few associations depend on the Department to survive, in these areas which are not within its compulsory competence.
It remains to be seen, when the thaw comes, what awaits the associative world and the municipalities. Coralie Dénoues wants to see two little lights shining on the horizon. The real estate market is doing a little better, and with it, tax revenues for the Department. And the tightening imposed by the State on Deux-Sèvres should ultimately not reach the feared 12 million euros in the fall of 2024.
