Very expensive Covid-19 health crisis. This is not the beginning of a poem or a letter, but a cruel observation. According to figures from the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), revealed by The Parisian, context-related losses amounted to six billion euros in 2020 for the municipalities of France. How to compensate? How to fill them? We can fear an increase in local taxes according to Mathieu Plane, economist at l’OFCE, always in the columns of the Parisian. We take stock in Côte-d’Or.
The concern of the CLCV
Seeing local taxes increase would be very bad news for households, already severely impacted by the crisis, believes David Demey, who chairs the consumers’ association CLCV in Côte-d’Or. What form could this take? David Demey puts forward hypotheses, such as an increase in property tax or a return to the abolition of the housing tax. He also dreads “the increase in the price of the gray card”, an increase in “entrance fees to museums”, of ‘pool ticket’, of “public transport prices”. “We will have to find solutions, he sums up, I don’t see how we’re going to be able to continue to inject money everywhere without paying it back at one point or another “.
Where do the municipalities’ financial difficulties come from?
Ludovic Rochette, President of the Association of Mayors of Côte-d’Or – and Mayor of Brognon – cannot currently quantify the losses for the municipalities of the department, but confirms that they exist. “We can clearly see that the municipalities and intercommunalities have spent a lot in the context of the covid, he indicates. This can be the purchase of masks, adaptations to sanitary devices, aid, operating losses, particularly in the field of transport “. He also wishes to point out that “The state compensated for part of 2020, but not completely, on the other hand”.
For Arc-sur-Tille, a shortfall of 100,000 euros in 2020
Illustration for the town of Arc-sur-Tille, a little over 2,500 inhabitants. The figures speak for themselves: during the first confinement, no extracurricular activities and school restaurants stopped. There was also no rental of the ballroom for events. The mayor, Patrick Morelière, mentions “a shortfall of 100,000 euros on an operating budget of two million euros, which is not negligible”.
We must add 18,000 euros of expenses to set up health protocols in schools, or for the purchase of hydroalcoholic gel and masks. The municipality received in this context an aid of 3000 euros from the State. “I cannot claim technical unemployment for my staff. We are partially destitute, deplores the mayor, Patrick Morelière. It’s up to us to organize ourselves to optimize the services, not to spend two euros when you can spend only one “.
Mayors reluctant to increase local taxes
To replenish the coffers, the mayor of Arc-sur-Tille refuses to increase local taxes in the coming months. “I see the restaurants closed for months, people who are unemployed, who are in terrible difficulties, says Patrick Morelière. I don’t know how I could cross my town with my head held high and say ‘we increased taxes because we have a deficit’ “.
I don’t know how I could cross my town with my head held high and say ‘we increased taxes because we have a deficit’
An opinion shared by Ludovic Rochette, mayor of Brognon and president of the Association of mayors of the department: “It is out of the question to use the fiscal lever, we arrive at a threshold of local taxation. If elected officials were to increase their taxes, it would not be cheerful. Currently, all communities are making sure to maintain their tax-equivalent services “.
For Dijon, note that the original budget, presented in early February 2021, does not provide for an increase in local taxes either.
–
