Gloomy economic outlook for communities. At the end of a local finance committee organized on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Association of Mayors of France, the president of the CFL André Laignel judged the prospects “worrying”, based on data from the observatory of the CFL (the final report will be adopted on July 11). A week before the Assises des finances publics, which will be organized on Monday at the initiative of the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire, in the presence of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, the vice-president of the Association of mayors of France has even hinted that the AMF executive could shun the meeting.
“The preliminary meetings did not reveal any notable progress. We try to be in the dialogue but if we are not heard, it has no interest, “said the PS mayor of Issoudun on Tuesday, a few hours before a preparatory meeting scheduled for the same evening on which he did not anticipate encouraging signals. Because for the PS mayor of Issoudun (Indre), the figures from the 2023 pre-report of the local public finance and management observatory are not very encouraging, like a famous painting by the Dutch painter Jérôme Bosch. “We have the feeling that the local finance landscape resembles the Garden of Earthly Delights. When you look at it from afar, you have the feeling of harmony but when you get closer, you discover all the flaws…”, quipped André Laignel, before drawing up a more precise inventory.
According to him, all positions in the local economy reflect the impact of inflation and three years of “consecutive crises”. Balances, revenue and operating expenses, taxes, duties, financial assistance from the State, gross and net savings… “These figures relativize all the speeches made on our treasuries and we are rather on setbacks. As mayor, I have never had so much difficulty making my budget, both at the level of the municipality and of the community”, he explained, recalling that the financial difficulties of the communities did not date from yesterday and that the landscape was contrasted according to the size of the communes. But if some of them have opted for precautionary savings, this is precisely, according to him, proof of a generally uncertain situation. “We save because we have fears for the future,” added the elected official, visibly reluctant to support the foundations of public finances yet announced by the government as an opportunity to share an observation.
Tuesday, after having participated in two preparatory technical meetings, André Laignel was still not convinced. “I just saw that they didn’t change one iota. I do not see how there could be a shared observation, ”he said.
According to the elected official, local authorities weigh neither “on the debt nor on the deficits” of the country and asking them to share the effort up to 50% with the State makes “no sense”. “We are permanently the firefighters on duty but we decide to lower the flow of the fire hose”, he summed up before denouncing “60 billion” euros in State levies on communities since 2014 , local charges linked to “general competence”, “unconcerted” increases in the index point of civil servants, a lack of indexation to inflation of this same index point as well as of the overall operating grant, the economic impact of the inflation of standards on local economies (2.5 billion according to Bercy), the consequences finally of the housing crisis while the AMF its ex-president François Baroin had “sounded the tocsin” there five years old…
“All of this put together, we have the feeling that there are more meetings but not more results”, criticized the chairman of the local finance committee, before concluding by nevertheless leaving a door open to the government. “If people stop considering us as subcontractors, we will be the best partners in the world…”.
On May 25, the Association of Mayors of France sent a letter to Bruno Le Maire to “solemnly” alert him to the “risks” represented by the “new restrictions announced on local finances”. The two-page letter had been signed by eight elected officials representing all the political currents of the AMF, including Macronists. Elected officials were worried about some projections they deemed “unrealistic” and feared a “collapse” of local investment, not to mention spending caps. They also called for the establishment of a “real consultation” before issuing a kind of warning in the event of “unilateral decisions” which would contradict the “commitments” of the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne.
In his response of June 9, Bruno Le Maire somewhat drowned the fish by welcoming the involvement of local elected officials and their “contribution to the richness and quality” of the exchanges. The Minister also praised a government desire for “transparency and dialogue” aimed at establishing, according to him, a “shared diagnosis” on the financial situation of communities. But on Tuesday, seven days before the Assizes, the long-awaited consultation seemed rather badly started. The final report will be adopted on July 11.
