All political tendencies are represented, all profiles of municipalities, rural and urban, small and large, urban areas too… This Monday morning, more than 300 elected officials gathered in front of the Essonne prefecture in Évry-Courcouronnes. They responded to the call for demonstration launched by the Union of Mayors of Essonne (UME) against the 2025 finance bill (PLF), not adopted in the National Assembly and under discussion in the Senate, which aims to make savings and which could cut the budget of local authorities by 5 billion euros.
“This PLF as proposed by the government is unacceptable,” chants Francisque Vigouroux, mayor (Horizons) of Igny and president of UME 91. In Essonne, it provides for several financial levies from the ten largest municipalities and EPCI (intercommunalities) as well as the department, of several tens of millions of euros. Other municipalities are also impacted and their local public accounts will be degraded. Who will provide public services if municipalities no longer function tomorrow? We are the first and last social link in which residents recognize themselves. »
The elected officials summarized their demands on several banners and over their tricolor scarves: “Communities sacrificed = Republic in danger”. Or again: “The government wants to kill the municipalities”.
Aurélie Gros, mayor (Idéal Citizens, ex-La France Really) of Coudray-Montceaux, believes that “to alienate the mayors is suicidal. My town of just under 5,000 inhabitants is not directly affected by the announced budget cuts because we do not receive a global operating grant. The State believes that we are not using our full fiscal potential. Even though we increased the property tax by 26% this year, we remain among the lowest rates. But one could imagine that we would be asked to pay money to make up for the state's mismanagement. »
“We are made fun of when we say that the municipalities are responsible for the public deficit,” deplores Jacques Mione, mayor (without label) of Ballancourt. Unlike the State, we are obliged to vote our budgets in balance. And we have a very reasonable debt duration, less than ten years necessarily. It is difficult to understand why the State is short of so much money when we have already suffered several cuts. »
A delegation was received by the prefect of Essonne, Frédérique Camilleri, who promised them to report their requests to the ministry.
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