Will the future “new commune” that Saint-Denis and Pierrefitte want to create by 2025, in Seine-Saint-Denis, really offer more resources than today to its inhabitants? This was the great promise of the two socialist mayors: “United, we will be stronger”, proclaimed Mathieu Hanotin and Michel Fourcade on April 5 in our columns, at the time of the (surprise) announcement of their project which would lead to the creation of a city of just over 145,000 inhabitants.
“Faced with the scarcity of public money, by becoming the second municipality in Île-de-France, our voice will count much more,” explained the first. “For us, that changes everything,” said the second. Pierrefitte will be able to develop much faster…”
The risk of a “colossal loss of resources”?
This Tuesday, while the second part of the finance bill for 2024, devoted to expenditure (and which includes provisions linked to the creation of new municipalities), arrived in session at the Assembly, the municipal opposition in Saint- Denis nevertheless wondered: “Is Mathieu Hanotin playing lying poker with his merger project? asks the Saint-Denis group on the left. For several weeks we have been witnessing posturing on his part to obtain a change in the law because, without this, this merger would result in a colossal loss of resources – 16 million euros over three years! » protested the group in a press release.
Because with the current law allowing the creation of new municipalities, Saint-Denis and Pierrefitte would risk losing in two areas: the text, dating from 2010, does not provide for maintaining the amount of the DSU (the solidarity endowment) at the same level. urban, which makes it possible to reduce inequalities between rich and poor municipalities) for municipalities that merge. And it does not provide any financial aid system for municipalities exceeding the 150,000 inhabitants mark either. However, by merging, the two cities of Seine-Saint-Denis could cross this threshold within a few years.
The opposition still calls for the project to be abandoned
“Mathieu Hanotin and Michel Fourcade explained to us that with this project, we were going to earn money, we would help Pierrefitte to get out of its difficulties, etc.,” recalls Sofia Boutrih, elected official (PCF) of Saint-Denis. And today, we realize that in reality, if we apply the merger as it stands, there is a loss of 16 million euros. » The opponent then wonders: “Either Mathieu Hanotin was not aware, and he is therefore irresponsible and incompetent. Either he knew it, and he lied to the detriment of the city’s finances. »
The elected representative speaks of “risk-taking where a mayor takes all the residents and agents on an adventure where, what is mainly at stake for him is his ego. » Since the announcement of the project, the group, which includes communist, environmentalist and civil society activists, has demanded a referendum, or even the abandonment of the file before the next municipal elections. He was joined by opposition groups mobilized in Pierrefitte, from both the left and the right. “Residents must choose the project that will guarantee them a better future,” continues Sofia Boutrih. As it stands, this is not the case. »
The mayor of Saint-Denis ensures that he has guarantees
Reached by telephone this Wednesday, Mathieu Hanotin claims to have identified this financial issue from the start of the project. “As soon as we embarked on this process, we questioned the government and it was agreed that it would bring the situation of Saint-Denis into line with the spirit of the law,” explains the councilor. This spirit is to prevent new municipalities from suffering loss of endowment for at least three years. »
Mathieu Hanotin considers that the 2010 law “did not fully anticipate the case of two municipalities which strongly benefit from the DSU”, or of a new municipality which could exceed 150,000 inhabitants after the merger. “These are defects in the writing of the law as exist everywhere,” he continues. But the government being in favor of the creation of new municipalities, we knew that it would support us in this process. »
The elected official thus says he has won his case in the finance bill, which provides in particular for “an alignment of the conditions for maintaining the DSU with those of the DGF (the overall operating allocation). » Concerning the threshold of 150,000 inhabitants, the figure would now be assessed “on the day of the vote (of the creation of the new commune, which must take place in 2024), explains the former deputy. This will allow us to know very precisely what we are committing to from the vote, without it being able to change afterwards. »
Furthermore, the first part of the finance law, adopted via 49.3, already plans to increase the seed grant (aid for new municipalities) from 6 euros per inhabitant over three years to 10 euros. Mathieu Hanotin therefore ensures that he has “the guarantee that the financial situation will be even better than when we took the vote in principle on the project” last April. “And if my opponents criticize me for trying to obtain everything I can get from the government to improve the city’s endowments, I take this criticism with great pleasure,” he quips.
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