Finances were discussed during the city council on Friday, December 18. In fact, the municipal councilors debated a series of three points all relating in reality to the same subject, namely the refinancing of two loans taken out by the municipality in 2006 with the Dexia bank. These loans, which aimed to finance sanitation and road works, extended from 2008 (date of activation of the debt) to 2057 and now amount to 5,668,080 euros in total, with a repaid capital of 43,353 euros per year, and an interest charge of 208,175 euros. This amounts to saying that the interest charge is 5 times the principal repaid, which makes the said repayment difficult to say the least. In 2012, the litigation against Dexia ended with the setting up of a support fund to help finance the loan considered to be the more “toxic” of the two loans. Friday’s deliberations aimed to renew the support fund for 3 years. Obviously, the members of the opposition did not fail to react.
“We are still paying 2008 credits in 2020,” said Sarah Campredon, “and we have hardly amortized anything. This is an extremely dramatic situation, and it is imperative to renegotiate these credits.”
Alain Brest also added to the subject, affirming that during the 2008-2014 mandate, his municipal team had been “on the verge” of having the loans canceled outright, but that the State “was afraid”, and had created the background device of support to “stop everything”. Mayor Nicolas Geraud, although he agreed on the importance of renegotiating, insisted on the fact that the toxicity of these volatile rates made the exit almost impossible.
“If it was that simple, why was it not done before,” he continued. Refinancing a loan involves paying a compensatory indemnity, which here would be in the order of 2,573,682 euros, ie a sum greater than the capital. “
An answer that did not satisfy Sarah Campredon, for whom these usurious values ”attack, are won”. Everyone was nevertheless in agreement to renew the device.
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