Did Franck Le Bohellec (DVD) properly manage Villejuif when he was mayor? The question will be at the heart of the discussions this Tuesday evening at the city council. Elected officials must vote on the 2021 budget of the new mayor Pierre Garzon (PCF) and refer to the recent report of the Regional Chamber of Accounts (CRC) on the management from 2014 to 2018.
Like a schoolteacher, the CRC distributed its good and bad points to Franck Le Bohellec. We submitted them to Pierre Garzon, who today wants to build “a transparent and sincere budget”.
The good points
Le Bohellec has reduced the city’s debt. “The gross cash flow almost doubled” between 2014 and 2018 and “the debt reduction capacity reached 8.3 years in 2018 against 15.4 years in 2014”, congratulates the CRC. Until 2015, Villejuif suffered from “very heavy debt”. It only succeeded in “repaying the principal annuities of the debt, forcing it to borrow around 11 million euros to meet its investments”. The former right-wing team managed to contain debt to € 110 million on average over the period.
How? ‘Or’ What? Thanks to the attachment to Grand Orly Seine Bièvre in 2016, a source of significant income; thanks to the control of the wage bill; and above all through the sale of municipal real estate. The disposals “reached 27.9 million euros over the period, which were allocated to the financing of 65 million euros of investments of which 92% of equipment expenses”, notes the chamber.
More… “In order to have one-off revenue, the city has amputated its ability to project itself,” estimates Pierre Garzon. Mr. Le Bohellec had launched 70 housing projects during his term of office without planning the equipment, which will prove to be necessary no matter what. We will have to buy land to create a school, a gymnasium, a green space… And that will cost us much more. This choice therefore handicaps the city for its future. He was more of a property merchant than a visionary mayor. “The CRC effectively points out the fragility of this financial improvement” because it depends on an asset disposal policy. The municipality must therefore consider more lasting measures ”. The city has therefore just launched a comprehensive heritage study which will be returned in the spring with a vote in the municipal council.
It contained the payroll. Villejuif town hall has around 1,100 agents (full-time equivalent). Franck Le Bohellec’s team “has succeeded in containing the evolution of its payroll since 2014 through tight management of advancements and promotions, the systematic non-replacement of retirements and various measures to reorganize services”.
More… “It’s a trompe-l’oeil measure, criticizes Pierre Garzon. In reality, Mr. Le Bohellec reduced the number of civil servants but resorted massively to contractual workers, precarious contracts: fixed-term contracts, individual contractors… He sometimes renewed a fixed-term contract up to 6 times during the mandate, totally outside the legal thresholds and ceilings. This precariousness also led to a surge in sick leave (burn-out, etc.). “The CRC confirms that” absenteeism worsened over the period to reach nearly 48,000 days in 2018 “. She denounces a large turnover of staff. Three DGS and eight DGA have followed one another in four years, for example. Also, “the professional experiences and grades awarded to certain contract agents do not always justify the agreed pay levels”.
Pierre Garzon therefore launched a “deprecarization plan” for the staff. It transforms the CDD into CDI or “trainee” of the territorial public service as soon as possible. It also takes care to stabilize the workforce and to re-internalize the trades falling under long-term positions (cleaning agent, roadmender) to reduce the missions outsourced under the Le Bohellec era such as cleaning services. “It was more expensive than in-house and it was less well done. “
The bad points
Contentious public contracts. The CRC points to the 18 million euros of purchases made outside the market between 2014 and 2018. It denounces a lack of internal control, an incomplete information system and the impossibility of verifying whether the public order complied with the thresholds and competitive tendering. . “Contracts have been tacitly renewed, without a tendering procedure. The urban cleaning market was used for nearly three times the open credit authorizations, which led us to file a complaint for the offense of favoritism, ”explains Pierre Garzon.
Inaccurate accounts. “The internal control processes do not make it possible to verify the traceability and security of accounting movements”, notes the chamber. Provisions for risks are at an “unsuitable level. The remainders to be carried out at the end of the accounting year are inaccurate. The municipal assets are incomplete, given the absence of a physical inventory and clearance of assets in progress ”. Human resources side, their administrative management “lack of rigor”: anomalies in pay, penalties and bonuses, counting of non-compliant overtime, frequent use of contractual agents without always respecting the law, benefits in kind (official housing , meals …) outside the regulatory provisions …
City Council, Tuesday, February 2, at 7 p.m. Broadcast live on the “Villejuif” Facebook page.
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