On the eve of the Departmental Council session that will debate the budgetary orientations for the year 2020, Charles Ange Ginésy, President of the Alpes-Maritimes Departmental Council, presented the financial and fiscal strategy of the Department within the framework of the Budgetary Orientation Debate for 2020, in the presence of Eric Ciotti, President of the Finance Commission.
After revisiting the good management of the departmental community [we act thus despite the reduction in State aid – nearly 140 million euros have disappeared over the past 6 years – and the State’s withdrawal of about a hundred million euros from our budget over the past 6 years through the so-called equalization mechanism], President Ginésy announced that he would propose a 10% reduction (from 11.80% to 10.62%) in the Property Tax on Built Properties (TFPB), amounting to 30 million euros in savings. The adoption of this proposal follows the earlier decision on the 2019 budget to decrease the same tax by 5% (from 12.42% to 11.80%).
For the record, this decision was interpreted as a political move in the “underground” struggle between Eric Ciotti, president of the finance commission, and Christian Estrosi, president of the Metropolis, who had created a metropolitan property tax. This sparked a lively controversy between “the ant and the grasshopper,” with Eric Ciotti particularly active in denouncing the new tax, including the dissemination of a public letter asking the Metropolis President to withdraw it and vehement speeches from councilor Christelle D’Intorni during debates within the metropolitan assembly and the opposing votes of her affiliates.
During this presentation, Charles-Ange Ginésy and Eric Ciotti took turns emphasizing the virtuous management of departmental finances, “the result of controlling operating expenses,” while maintaining the level of investments at 150 million euros on average over the last 6 years, whereas, at the same time, the debt has decreased by 143 million euros*.
