A letter sent to the President of the Republic

Photo Twitter Department of Loire

Credit: Photo Twitter Department of the Loire

“The financial difficulties experienced by the Departments are not new and it is not for lack of alerting successive governments.” This is what we can read in a letter addressed to Emmanuel Macron.

A “budgetary strangulation”

The President of the Loire Department, Georges Ziegler, sent him a letter to discuss the financial situation in the Loire. The reason: charges which increase while autonomy decreases.

“We see every day that the State restricts the scope of action of communities and continues to tighten the screws on local finances, and that of the Departments in particular. Certainly, controlling public spending is an imperative objective that we must all share, both at local and national level But by unfairly imposing a disproportionate effort on Communities, the State creates the conditions for a real budgetary strangulation threatening to affect many Departments.

An explosion of remaining charges around the RSA

A letter sent when elected officials met this Monday to discuss “adjustments to the 2024 budget” linked to an unforeseen increase in spending of 9 million euros. Among the reasons given: the revaluation of the RSA (decided in April by the government) but also the increase in the number of students with disabilities transported by the Department (+8%).

Concerning the RSA, expenditure increased from 70 million euros to 109 million euros in 10 years (between 2013 and 2023) with unchanged State compensation. Concretely, the remaining liability for the Department increased from 21.5 million euros to 60 million euros.

Elected officials are also concerned about the effort required from communities of around 16 million for the Loire department.