The 2016 budget of the departmental council will be voted on next December 17th, but the debate on orientations, which was held during yesterday’s assembly, has already revealed its nature and explained the main focuses. These can be summarized in three points: no increase in taxes, control of operating expenses, and debt reduction.
This debate, if it can be called that when only one person (the president) speaks and everyone else listens, except for a timid intervention from the few opposition members, also served as a platform for Eric Ciotti to launch his usual barbs at the government’s policy, which he referred to as having a “pitiful record,” at least in his opinion.
One wonders what the point of this verbal exercise is in front of a completely supportive assembly!
The President of the Departmental Council expressed satisfaction with “his” good management recognized by the Court of Auditors, particularly on operating expenses reduced by 0.1% while in other departments, they increased on average by 2.4% and in some cases significantly (by 15 to 17%).
Naturally, he returned to the reduction in State grants: in 2016, the Alpes-Maritimes will receive 25.9 million less, in addition to the 35.5 million euros from transfer tax revenues (DMTO) as part of the equalization.
In this budgetary context, the department must be – according to its president – “very rigorous and impose a virtuous strategy.”
The voice of Francis Tujague, on behalf of the communist elected representatives, rose, very politely, to challenge this “virtuous strategy” which for him means “the reduction of our possibilities to intervene in all areas within our competencies: roads, secondary schools, human and territorial solidarity…” and, consequently, “a weakening of the departmental community when we should be focusing on strengthening its role in this context.”
The opposition member did not fail to point out that investments had already decreased by 72% between 2012 and 2014, with the accompanying consequences.
