The departmental council meeting on Tuesday, November 26, 2024 was devoted to the budgetary orientation debate. It is time to draw up the broad outlines of the 2025 financial year. This will be the first budget proposed under the presidency of Laurent Suau. He set the context: an operating report “correct“, a debt”mastered“. But two parameters to take into account when establishing the budget.
The situation
Firstly, the situation in the country, with a sharp deterioration in public accounts. The Departments will be called upon to contribute, although we do not yet know precisely on what scale. “I have a reasonable hope that the impactful measures for the budget of Lozère will be lessslips the president. We will still have to participate in the national effort.” In the opinion of Jean-Louis Brun, of the opposition group, Laurent Suau is “the only one to be serene” about this.
One million for nursing homes: it’s voted on
The departmental assembly voted to grant exceptional aid to accommodation establishments for the elderly in Lozère in the amount of one million euros. It aims to support nursing homes which are in financial deficit, in particular because of inflation. The opposition announced that it would vote for aid if the Langogne nursing home was integrated into it; in fact, he was initially excluded because he had received aid from the ARS in 2023. Laurent Suau received the arguments and included the Langogne establishment in the system. The aid was voted unanimously, as well as the distribution of the sum between the establishments.
Secondly, the president points out: “Commitments have been made [avant son arrivée à la présidence, NDLR] which exceed our capacity in the medium and long term.” According to his calculations, €232 million should be planned over six years, or €39 million per year, for a current financing capacity of €35 million per year. By adding essential programs like the RN88 for example, Laurent Suau has a six-year multi-year investment plan of around €270 million, or €45 million annually, “almost 30% more than our current capacity“. “This will force us to prioritize. Governing means planning, but it also means choosing. We will make choices, and we will assume them.“, he announces.
Choices
And to list his priorities: “We will make a proposal to return to an annual programming of territorial contracts from 2026. […] We choose to support nursing homes […]. We choose to focus on the energy and ecological transition […]. We will continue investments to enhance heritage, such as the Château de Saint-Alban. The Department will ardently pursue its mission of protecting children and supporting our youth. […] The department will be there to support [les événements sportifs].”
The budgetary orientation debate provides, for the operating section, €142 million in real revenue for €127.5 million in expenditure and gross savings of €14.5 million. In order revenue, €5.5 million; in order expenses, €18.5 million, or €13 million in total; remains a transfer to the investment of €1.5 million. That’s a total of €147.5 million.
The other files
Also voted on were: the annual report on the sustainable development situation of the departmental council; the launch of the new general interest program in favor of housing; the report on equality between women and men to the departmental council.
On the latter, equality is respected in the workforce; the number of women in leadership positions is also taken into account. If there is a gap in pay, it is due to part-time work, which women use more than men. The departmental council employs 51.63% women and 48.37% men.
Among operating expenses, €56.5 million goes to human solidarity (autonomy, social ties, childhood, family); €8.7 million goes to infrastructure and mobility (roads, buildings, IT, digital, mobility, Polen). €8.8 million goes to territorial solidarity (youth, education, citizenship; sports, culture, heritage, community life; circular economy, agriculture and sector support; territories and attractiveness; water, ecological and energy excellence). €53.5 million goes to internal resources and finances (human resources, assemblies, finances; fire and rescue service; general resources; legal and markets; office and communications).
47.5 million in investment
For its part, the investment section balances out at €47.5 million, including €18 million of borrowing among revenues. These investments target infrastructure for €23 million (including €14 million for roads); €11 million for territorial solidarity (including €10 million for engineering, attractiveness and development); €0.6 million for the fire and rescue service.
Sophie Pantel (in writing and through the voice of Michèle Manoa) like Jean-Louis Brun estimated that the recipes were overvalued, which Laurent Suau denied. Time will tell.
This budget brings the projected debt reduction capacity to 3.6 years, if the €18 million loan is taken out. It was 2 years in 2024. The national ceiling for the Departments is 10 years.
The initial budget will be put to the vote in December.
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