Intermunicipalities of France opposes a new effort of budgetary savings demanded from local authorities

On the occasion of the meeting of its boards of directors and orientation on May 4, the elected officials of the bodies of Intercommunalities of France strongly opposed to a new turn of the budgetary screw, as evoked by Emmanuel Macron to during the presidential campaign.

The amount of this new effort, which could be up to ten billion euros as declared by the budget rapporteur Laurent de Saint-Martin during the hearing by Intercommunalities of France and Urban France of the candidates for the presidential election, cannot be supported by the communities of the local bloc.

As pointed out by the Court of Auditors, in recent years, the local bloc has demonstrated its ability to moderate its expenses, with rates of change in its operating expenses below the limits set by the Cahors contracts.

Local authorities wish to highlight the fact that they have already agreed to major efforts, in particular with the reduction of 12 billion euros in reductions in allocations between 2014 and 2017, leading to a substantial and immediate reduction in expenditure on investment.

Intermunicipalities of France recalls that the local block is the first public investor, up to 50 billion euros per year (60% of the public order). Municipalities and intermunicipalities play, in this respect, an essential role in national growth and are at the forefront of making the investments necessary for the ecological and energy transition.

In addition, the communities of the local bloc are currently facing the financial effects of the international crisis: rising inflation and interest rates, rising energy and raw material costs...generating unforeseen expenses in full preparation budgetary. Other charges are to come as the unilateral raising of the index point of civil servants.

The intermunicipalities and their member municipalities cannot support a new effort without detrimental consequences for the development of the territories, and the organization of local public services.

The mapping of the results of the second round of the presidential election shows a deeply fractured France. Intermunicipalities of France have long been pleading for territorial public action, closer to the living areas of the French. The local bloc thus needs real means to meet the challenges facing the country: economic recovery, reindustrialisation, ecological transition, social cohesion.

This proposal for a budgetary effort, announced without any real consultation, just like that relating to the abolition of the CVAE, directly questions the relations between the State and the local authorities. In view of the challenges of this new five-year term, it becomes essential to question the complementarity between the State and local authorities as well as the structuring of local taxation, and more generally that of the local authorities' basket of resources. These questions will be at the heart of the next Convention des Intercommunalités de France in Bordeaux on 5, 6 and 7 October.