It’s the Christmas period and with it comes the time for discussions around the major budgetary orientations of the communities. A moment always eagerly awaited since it determines the course, the vision, the priorities of a majority. Except that this year, the flavor is very special. A little harsher than usual. The budgetary exercise – already not simple – becomes more “formidable complexity” when it should be carried out “without a national compass in the most perilous economic uncertainty”indicates Thierry Hory, vice-president of the Metz Eurometropolis, in charge of finances who had to stick to the exercise during the metropolitan council on Monday, December 16.
So whatever the hemicycle, the fingers point to the same culprit: the State. It is said of him that he is «irresponsible»we castigate some for being supporters, others for participating in this great charade by censoring the government as opposition… But we agree on one point: the communities remain in this context “the pole of stability for our fellow citizens”.
So we refocus on the situation in the metropolis of Metz. “The stagnation of revenues coupled with the increase in expenditure requires prudence to preserve our balances, especially since it is impossible to say at this time what the next finance law will contain”intervenes Thierry Hory. However, the metropolitan majority has a clear objective: “Preserve self-financing without resorting to tax increases, optimize the functioning of the institution by controlling expenses while preserving the quality of service to the population” and provides for a loan of five million euros to finance the ramp-up of these investments.
Superfluous policies
They still need to be unanimous, which naturally is not the case. Leader of the United group (left-wing opposition), Jérémy Roques opens the debate denouncing “ local austerity ». “We have the means to do otherwise by removing unnecessary policies. By chance, a new increase of 400,000 euros for the Serpentine, whose budget continues to slip, now reaching almost 5.5 million euros overall between the City and the metropolis. » It extends the list of unnecessary expenses on video surveillance, communication, river shuttles. And they preferred better care of youth and precariousness. “We already know that [la mission locale] will have to face a reduction in State funding. Will it be as announced at its general meeting to the tune of 150,000 euros, the equivalent of 3.5 full-time equivalents? » alert for her part, Danielle Bori.
A sentence from the budgetary orientation report particularly captures the interest of Françoise Grolet. “This situation requires us to refocus on our skills.” The elected representative of the National Rally adds: “You say that we need to refocus… What an admission that you have dispersed yourself into areas that are not our responsibility with additional job creations every year, until the recent decision to create a cooperation service international well beyond cross-border relations which have an obvious interest for our territory […] This insatiable appetite to touch everything can make it possible to promote projects on the territory, I do not disagree with it especially since the State abdicates its responsibility for territorial planning but how many times have I warned that when the metropolis was overflowing with skills, they were straining our budget and today the cicada finds itself very deprived. »
François Grosdidier to respond by addressing his two oppositions. “Public finances are in crisis and you are very often in denial. I have seen you demand ever more spending and refuse ever more revenue. Mr Roques, you are in your obsessions, you talk about austerity. We are not in austerity. I don’t know if Madame Grolet, like yourself, had problems with snakes when you were little or if you fell into the water to traumatize yourself to this point, but you have the same obsession against the Serpentine and the river shuttles. We will see rue Serpenoise before and after and you will have to tell us if for this street which is the showcase of the metropolis, we really had to stay as before. » On the subject of useful expenses, he takes the example of a “a simple sleepless night which initially costs 350,000 and ends at 750,000 euros for our community. »
The president returns to the accumulation of skills, this time addressing Françoise Grolet. “You do not support decentralized cooperation which, to the extent that it is decentralized, is part of our skills. We can be interested in what is happening in the rest of the world even though we have difficulties. When we see what has just happened in Mayotte again, I am appalled that you consider it a luxury to want to fight against global warming”… the elected official proposing a few minutes earlier to slow down “the costly commitments of punitive ecology”.
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