The traditional marathon of the Municipal Council (but is it so difficult to organize the proceedings efficiently? As well as making the acoustics comply with standard norms?), was characterized more by a bar-counter conversation atmosphere than a public debate.
And, as often happens at the counter, the conversation became so animated that it spiraled into a rather heated verbal exchange between Mayor Christian Estrosi and his current opponent (and former first deputy) Benoît Kandel, following the latter’s critical intervention during the debate on the preliminary 2019 budget, the main point of the session.
Christian Estrosi responded aggressively to the severe but not offensive criticisms by reminding Benoît Kandel of his involvement in the Semiacs case, the company that manages municipal parking lots of which he was president at the time of the facts, which stirred much controversy over some aspects of alleged mismanagement.
Exchange of accusations, heightened tones between the two former allies – one does not become the first deputy of the City of Nice without having the trust of the “boss” – who fortunately had the capacity not to transgress a certain code of conduct.
An opportune suspension of the work allowed the two belligerents to gather their wits and move on to something else. And for those present, to recall the lovely expression: Gentlemen, please!
BUDGET
In fact, everything had been said during the budget guidelines debate on October 11 but… same refrain.
How to prevent Christian Estrosi from claiming “the protection of purchasing power,” “support for the most vulnerable,” “ongoing projects” (Ikea, new districts in the OIN, the gourmet hall of the Sud station), “support for proximity,” “event and cultural programming?”
And overemphasizing new measures, a fuel cheque amounting to 20 euros per month (under certain conditions) and free access – once a month – to Parc Phoenix (!!!) which will have a very, very marginal impact on the whole population.
And how to prevent oppositions from firing a few shots: for Marie-Christine Arnautu (RN) “your report is more like an election brochure, a web of approximations, untruths.” Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux (EELV), she touches on the debt outstanding “the budget presented to us shows a decrease in the debt outstanding, it is a notable fact. […] we are not fooled, the transfers of expenses to the metropolis allowed the people of Nice to believe that everything was fine” (editor’s note, notably nearly 1 billion euros for investment in tramway lines 2/3).
Dominique Boy-Mottard (DVG) notes polemically “the confusion between the metropolitan parent company and its Nice subsidiary,” calls for transparency so that “consolidated budgets between the two entities are presented” and calls “the new pie in the sky” the purported increase in purchasing power by the mayor of Nice …and President of the Metropolis, by demonstrating that adding up municipal and metropolitan taxes, the people of Nice (and metropolitan residents) will be more burdened.
Finally, Patrick Allemand (This Another Future) who, after judging that the 2019 budget “offers both clarifications and breaks, and at the same time, does not upset the major balances,” notes that “after 10 years of uninterrupted growth, the debt outstanding decreases. It was 497 million euros in 2017, 508 million in 2018, it decreases to 473.6 in 2019‚”
After this chaos of good and useless (?) words, it is time to come to the key figures (in millions of euros) that the “great treasurer” Philippe Pradal summarized as follows:
1 Total preliminary budget: 730
of which: 550 in operations, 180 in investment (including 85 in expenses and 95 in capital repayment and financial operations)
2 Equipment investment: 85
of which: (axis 1) Youth and school life: 19.3, (axis 2) securing the living environment and modernizing administration: 19.2, (axis 3) enhancement of heritage and public spaces: 16.5, (axis 4) culture, sport, and proximity: 30
3 Taxes
Reduction of nearly 20% of the TEOM (household waste) since 2018
Reduction of property tax by 2.12 points in 2019 and by 2 points in 2020
editor’s note: against the new metropolitan tax of 6.4%
4 Additional budgets
Management Palace Acropolis and Nikaia: 17.2 Opera 19.9 (of which 15.7 borne by the City as a balancing subsidy)
SUBSIDIES
The traditional watering of sports clubs and other associations did not fail to occur on the eve of the Christmas holidays.
While no one contests the policy of supporting the associative and sports fabric, and even less dares to vote against this army of potential voters, Dominique Boy-Mottard (DVG) raises some questions that are not without pertinence: “How many times have I asked that we be explained how choices were made? And in the absence of a response, how not to think that arbitrariness reigns supreme?”.
Christian Estrosi’s response is direct: for him, the common theme of this policy is social cohesion.
Could one infer that social cohesion and clientelism are two sides of the same coin?
And wonder, for example, why the professional tennis player Alizée Cornet, who displays millionaire earnings in dollars in the WTA ranking (good for her), benefits from financial aid?
In any case, here are the most important figures (in millions of euros) per sector, to which are added subsidies of several thousand or tens of thousands to a plethora of associations
Sport: 8.9 to clubs + 0.325 to high-level athletes
Sports events: 0.353
Early childhood: 1.2
Solidarity, Social Affairs, Disability: 0.642
MISCELLANEOUS
Deliberations were made concerning projects such as:
(i) the regulation of street artists’ activity in the tourist excellence perimeter
(ii) the financial enhancement (in other words, commercialization) of public spaces, such as Ville Maséna, the CUM, the Matisse Museum, the MAMAC, the Opera, Parc Phoenix, Jardin Albert 1st, Parc des Arènes de Cimiez, and Quai des Etats Unis to develop new revenues
(iii) the project of decentralized music education aimed at children within the Ariane district
(iv) the advancement of the “Influence your city” project undertaken with young people from Nice aged 15-25, with the implementation of initiatives resulting from the call for projects presented during the “Ambiance your city” evening on October 4, after the consultation in which more than 3000 young people participated.
