“As long as the State does not understand that the municipalities are not a burden but a lever, we will be in permanent and total incomprehension,” insisted André Laignel, first deputy vice-president of the AMF, president of the Local Finance Committee and mayor of Issoudun (Indre, 11,232 inhabitants), during a press conference on November 5, 2024. In fact, local elected officials, who will hold their 106e Congress from November 18 to 21, can no longer stand being “scapegoats” of the State, accused of so-called mismanagement. Certainly, there are poorly managed communities, but “at the macro-economic level, the problem of public accounts is elsewhere,” said the president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), David Lisnard. As proof: “despite the mille-feuille that has been imposed on us”, the total debts of the municipal bloc represent 8.9% of produced wealth (GDP), compared to 9% 30 years ago. That is, quasi-stability. And it is an investment debt, “so there is an asset opposite”. During the same period, the state debt has almost tripled.
As for community spending, it amounts to less than 11% of GDP. “All our accounts, by legal obligation, are balanced in operation and State allocations are not subsidies, it is money that the State takes and redistributes,” recalled David Lisnard. Since 2010, to participate in the recovery of public accounts, communities have provided 71 billion euros taken from the overall operating allocation (DGF). “They are communicating vessels. With these 71 billion euros, we fed a system which is running out of steam and hyper-centralized.”
A punitive finance law
No wonder local elected officials are upset. “After four years of continuous crisis, the 2024 Congress risks being that of anger,” declared André Laignel for whom, over the last three months, the former government has uttered “a slanderous denunciation” and the new government applies “ punishment” in the finance law. The Minister of the Economy at the time indicated that the finances of local authorities represented the main danger for France, citing “a slippage of between 16 and 20 billion euros”, without however justifying these amounts. Deploring that neither the finance committees of the two assemblies, nor the local finance committee, have received a response on this point, André Laignel quickly brushed aside the new burdens that communities must bear: standards (+ 4.1 billion d ‘euros), payroll including the increase in the index point (+ 2.5 billion euros), municipal police (+ 2.2 billion euros), early childhood (which requires creating positions), transfer of identity documents without compensation, health expenses linked to the emergency although the communities have no competence in this matter…
Behind all these “bad accusations”, the communities have “a feeling of deep humiliation”. Finally, the new government imposed “punishment with an unfair and irresponsible finance law, an unprecedented bloodletting”. The Government has communicated a lot about the 5 billion euros in effort requested from communities. A “State lie”, for André Laignel, who counts more than 11 billion euros in reductions in resources and new charges. Thus, at least 55% of municipalities will see their DGF decrease in current euros and 80% in constant euros. “Putting the municipal bloc in a regulated section in the finance law, suffocating them with standards and regulations will lead to a breakdown in investments.” The vice-president of the AMF estimates the drop in local net self-financing at 50%, which leads to investing less or going into debt. He points to “serious errors which endanger local public services, while residents expect more local services”.
46 billion less local taxes
Not to mention the “rampant decentralization” (ZAN, town planning, etc.), the different plans (heat, water, cycling, etc.) which are not accompanied by any additional means. And financial recentralization with the nationalization of local taxes. The elected official added up: “each time the State needed to make a tax gift, local taxes were affected. There was thus 46 billion in local tax suppression.”
Another subject of anger: the Court of Auditors recently “incriminated the employees of the territorial civil service”, and ordered the communities to eliminate 100,000 positions. “But who to remove?, asked André Laignel. Childminders, educational assistants, road workers…? »
On the contrary, we must seek performance, productivity and not penalize the economy. “Weakening local authorities risks delivering the country to crises,” says the elected official. France has 498,000 local elected officials, of whom more than 400,000 are completely voluntary. An “extraordinary wealth”.
Martine Courgnaud – Del Ry
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