As the congress of the Association of Mayors of France begins today, Clémentine Le Marrec, mayor of the small town of Bénouville (Calvados) comes to talk about her daily life, her passion and the difficulties that mayors face, particularly with the reduction in subsidies.
While the congress of the Association of Mayors of France begins today in Paris with the theme “Communities… Fortunately! », the municipalities which operate everyday public services, which carry out concrete projects which improve the living environment of residents and which give meaning to public action, in short, a lot of things. Isn't that a bit too much for you as mayor sometimes?
It’s happening! But it’s true that this versatile role is also enriching. In small and medium-sized communities, you write a fifteen-page grant file, an hour later, you put tables and chairs in the gymnasium and you then drop off a package for an isolated person. So it’s true that you have to know how to constantly adapt.
The Association of Mayors of France denounces a waste and brandishes the figure of 41 mayor resignations per month. What keeps you going? What makes you want to get up every day to be mayor of Bénouville?
I chose to have this young commitment because I consider that I experience the commune in another way. I am active, I drop my children off at school every morning. I also participate in association events a little late. So there you have it, I experience community life differently and I wanted to have this commitment early. So afterward it’s a choice.
As you said, it’s very gripping. You never get fed up?
If sometimes on Sunday evening, when you are called by the gendarmerie at 10:30 p.m., you have to go out and your companion doesn't necessarily understand… you sometimes get fed up. But it’s also a choice that we made. It’s a commitment that we made and that we must uphold.
We have therefore felt a growing exasperation for several years among the mayors of France. And then the straw that broke the camel's back was the cuts planned for the 2025 budget. Is that unacceptable?
The State today is no longer a reliable partner. That is to say that we are given rules, a certain number of constraints are imposed on us which we respect despite the lack of human resources in our communities. And today, when we reach the end of the road, that is to say at the submission of the building permit and the subsidy requests, we are told that the rules have changed, that ultimately the budget envelope is less and we no longer knows if the project will ultimately be able to be done.
Are there projects in your municipality that are being called into question?
We are in the process of building a cultural and social center. Here we are really at the last stage and you should know that the State asks us not to make subsidy requests until we have reached this last stage which is the final preliminary project and the filing of the building permit. And so, we arrive on the eve of laying the first stone and we are told “Okay, maybe the envelope will be reduced”.
Does this make you angry because you, the municipalities, must be held accountable?
Completely ! One euro received for one euro spent. We are obliged to vote for a balanced budget, while the State does not. He can vote for a deficit budget. And he's been doing it for decades. So we, the AMF's position, is to say that rigor within the municipalities is already present. We are making a lot of efforts even though we are responsible for 70% of public investments.
After the rebellion of the departments which won their case with Prime Minister Michel Barnier, do you think that you in turn will be able to come together and change the government's position regarding budget cuts?
I think so and I hope so, because we are still the first link of proximity. When residents have a problem or an idea, they come to the town hall. We are the largest employer in France. As I said earlier, 70% of public investment is carried out by local authorities. And as David Lisnard (president of the association of mayors of France) said, we are not here to complain. We are just here to be able to advance our files, work and provide a good level of public service to our residents.
However, do we have to save money somewhere?
Yes, so we do it on our scale. Afterwards, we often talk about the administrative millefeuille. The problem is that everyone touches everything. An example: tourism skills. Everyone does tourism, the EPCI, the regions, the departments, the State… So perhaps that is where we should look for savings rather than in the local authorities which manage their budget to the nearest cent.
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