At the Congress of Mayors in Paris,
“Where are the black scarves?” » Thousands of elected officials gathered this Tuesday, at the Porte de Versailles in Paris, for the traditional Congress of Mayors. But this year, the Association of Mayors of France (AMF) distributed tricolor scarves covered with a wide dark band to city councilors from all over France. A symbol to better denounce the five billion euros of efforts requested from communities for the year 2025. In the aisles of the show, the mayors express their anger against this budget cut by the Barnier government to clean up public accounts.
“Will we be able to have quality canteens”?
“This black scarf is to show that communities are dying, we are killing communities,” sighs Béatrice de François. The PS mayor of Parempuyre (Gironde) regrets a further reduction in future allocations. “We are already tightening our belts, while we, unlike the State, have balanced budgets. I have already lost 1 million euros in state funding in ten years…” sighs the woman who is also vice-president of Bordeaux metropolis.
The elected socialist is already anticipating the impact of future budget cuts. “Are we going to have to do fewer after-school services? Will we still be able to maintain quality service in the canteens? I have set up free transport for sporting and cultural activities for children whose parents work, but this has a cost, so I am not sure I can maintain everything. These restrictions will have an impact on people’s quality of life.”
A little further on, Jean Nadal sighs: “These announcements are very bad news. It limits our budget,” complains the councilor of Maubourguet, a small town of 2,400 people in the Hautes-Pyrénées. He mentions a concrete case in his town: “We have a thousand plane trees and some are affected by colored canker, a fungus which causes their death. Diseased trees would have to be cut down to prevent the spread, but this costs 800 euros per head, not including replanting. Today, I don’t know how many I could save…”.
“We're still pushing our heads underwater”
Many elected officials mention the negative impact on investment projects. “We have already had funds taken away with the abolition of the housing tax in 2020, now we are still sinking our heads under water,” squeaks Jean-Louis Anglade, mayor of the rural commune of Cadéac in Hautes-France. Pyrenees. “If we no longer have money, we will be forced to postpone investments, for example in the number of social housing units to be built.” Same observation for the former deputy Jacques Myard, now mayor of Maisons-Laffitte (Yvelines). “We have drastic standards for daycare centers, but we will be unable to respect them. We will have to make choices, between the roads to maintain, the buildings to repaint…” criticizes the right-wing mayor. Béatrice de François mentions another indirect consequence: “There will also be a negative impact for companies in the sector, because when we do work for a gymnasium or a school, we employ companies in the region, it is a circle vicious,” says the socialist mayor.
Vincent Chauvot, mayor of the village of Saint-Marc-sur-Seine, has already planned to abandon certain projects. “We had planned to redo the village hall, but it costs 500,000 euros, so we will have to scale back,” he says. The elected official from Côte-d'Or, who already waives part of his compensation to keep his accounts, talks about the implementation of a D system. “When I fill up my car with gasoline, I fill sometimes a can for the city's brush cutters. When an establishment needs to be repainted, I ask residents who can to lend a helping hand.” He shrugs his shoulders and adds: “It’s our reality, we manage as best we can.”
