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Nicolas Zaugra
Published on
Oct 3, 2024 at 2:46 p.m.
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“There is no more money in the Metropolis, the coffers are empty, they have burned everything,” says a mayor of the metropolitan opposition.
Monday September 30, after five hours of debate in the council of the Metropolis of Lyon, the environmentalist executive voted on a decision to amend its 2024 budget due to unforeseen expenses and lack of revenue. As at the top of the State, the community must face financial difficulties…
Social, emergency accommodation… 50.9 million euros in unforeseen expenses
The Metropolis led by ecologist Bruno Bernard must face additional expenses of 50.9 million euros “linked in part au social of which we have an increase of 2.2%, an increase of 20.3 million euros,” begins Bertrand Artigny, vice-president of the Metropolis in charge of finances.
The community notably pays the RSA to its beneficiaries. Social assistance “represents 5.5 million euros which come from the national revaluation decided by the government on April 1 […]», continues the elected official who also adds to this the increase in the disability compensation benefit.
Emergency accommodation spending is also increasing, from 403 to 405 million euros. The vice-president also specifies that the budget allocated to single mothers increased from 1 million euros in 2019 to 11 million today, which is “a significant effort”.
An inflation of personnel costs
On the floors of the headquarters of the Lyon metropolis, in the Part-Dieu district, we add to this a inflation of personnel costs of 11 million euros linked to a “decrease in the vacancy rate” of jobs.
The spending could not stop there, between the revolt of the firefighters who are demanding increases and bonuses and the new agreement announced this week between the Metropolis and the unions. “Unprecedented upgrading” measures will be put in place between 2024 and 2026 for the 9,600 agents of Greater Lyon to the tune of 14 million euros aimed at “improving working conditions” and “purchasing power”.
Revenues from real estate transactions collapse
On the revenue side, the situation is also of concern. The largest revenue deficit for the accounts of the metropolis is found on the side of transfer taxes for valuable consideration at the amount of 50 million euros. Concretely, these are taxes affected by Greater Lyon on real estate sales. And with an unprecedented and violent crisis in the sector, the decline is spectacular.
The Metropolis also lacked 13.5 million euros from compensatory portions of VAT paid by the State. The corporate property tax still falls by 3.7 million euros.
A “new revenue” is also paid into the budget, a share of part of the mobility payment paid by companies. This represents 22 million euros. But as Yves-Marie Uhlrich (former mayor of Écully from the Inventing the Metropolis of Tomorrow, opposition) points out, this is a payment of Sytral to metropolitan accounts, “an unprecedented decision” to ensure new inflows of new money.
LFI wants a tax on Lyon billionaires to replenish the coffers
Laurent Legendre, elected La France insoumise à la Métropole, in any case has the solution to replenish the coffers. He proposed during the council to create an exceptional contribution (a tax) on the ten Lyon billionaires mentioned in the top 500 French fortunes of Challenges magazine.
“There have never been so many billionaires,” he denounces. On a Lyon scale, the ten richest billionaires “cumulate 22.7 billion euros” in fortune. “We are proposing an exceptional contribution from these 10 metropolitan billionaires to boost the revenue” of the Metropolis. “Let’s take 100 million euros each” from Alain Mérieux, Norbert Dentressangle or even Christian Latouche, he said. “They all have the common point of being men over 50…” he laments.
The elected official did not explain how such a tax can be deployed at the local level.
“Wind of budgetary panic”
The upheavals gave the opposition the opportunity to violently criticize the financial management of environmentalists. Metropolitan Councilor Nathalie Perrin-Gilbert finally declined to speak, revealing that she was preparing a letter to the prefect on the question of the legality of modifying the budget.
“This change in the budget shows that you are not drawing conclusions from our warnings,” warns Yves-Marie Uhlrich. The elected official also denounced the reduction of one million in the operating subsidy to the Musée des Confluences or the increase in the tax on commercial spaces. “You are deaf to our warnings,” insisted Lionel Lassagne (La Métro Positive).
For Didier Vullierme (Progressives and Republicans), the majority on the left is affected by a “wind of budgetary panic”.
“The Metropolis has always been well managed and that continues”
Bruno Bernard’s response was quick, ensuring that his community has always been well managed and that continues,” also greeting his predecessors Gérard Collomb and David Kimelfeld. “We are reducing the debt, it has been reduced by 400 million euros,” defended the elected official.
“The situation is more difficult today […] but in 2024, there will be 1.4 billion euros of investment in the territory between the Metropolis and Sytral.” The president also defended the tax on commercial premises “which affects large-scale distribution”. “When revenues do not increase, there is no compensation from the State,” also deplores the boss of the Metropolis in conclusion.
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