A month after the inauguration of the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis, its president, Christian Estrosi, entered the delicate phase of voting on the 2012 budget. With 945 million euros, priority is given to employment and economic development.
International promotion, public investments, land development, support for innovative companies, “with the skills it combines, the Metropolis allows the community to be present from one end of the economic chain to the other,” explains Christian Estrosi.
With an objective in mind: Employment! With 47,500 companies generating around 220,000 jobs, the Metropolis plans to create 20,000 more within 10 years. To achieve this, the territory will launch major projects such as the Grand Arénas and the creation of the eco-district Méridia.
Financial Balance
But “creating jobs in the Metropolis territory means primarily ensuring the balance of our finances.” In this area, the president of the Metropolis aims to set an example. “We borrow as much as we repay,” estimate Christian Estrosi and Philippe Pradal, president of the finance commission. This allows for not increasing tax rates, both on households and businesses.
This assertion is challenged by Emmanuelle Gaziello (PCF), who believes that “the debt interest eats into all the budgets,” as it is inherent “to the increase in borrowing rates to 5%.” Consequently, “local taxes should increase by 2.13%.” For Christian Estrosi, there will be no change in these taxes, “it’s a commitment made!” However, this only moderately convinces the opposition. “All indicators are in the red,” warns Patrick Allemand, president of the Changer d’ère group (PS), “the debt level is rising.” The Metropolis sees the issue differently and welcomes its self-financing capacity “up by 54%, from 61.5 million euros for the last NCA budget to 94.78 million for this one.”
The Path of Austerity
At the same time, the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis is committing to austerity. Nearly 14 million euros in savings on operating expenses are planned for 2012. Systematic renegotiation of contracts, optimization of transport costs (50 service vehicle fleet cars will be removed), process pooling, everything is considered for budget cuts. This includes staff reductions. Without providing figures, Christian Estrosi mentions “not replacing retirees.”
