The president of the Gironde department, Jean-Luc Gleyze (PS), chose the very bucolic site of the Pontaulic estate in Léognan on Thursday for his back-to-school conference. If it was a question of essentially talking about a participatory budget, the theme of local finances and declining resources quickly came to the fore, with Jean-Luc Gleyze warning of a drop in transfer taxes, these taxes paid to the department on real estate transactions.
“The departments have no longer had fiscal autonomy for several years, since we no longer have any tax to levy, nor housing tax, nor property tax,” recalls the elected official. “The only revenue we have is transfer taxes, but the drop in real estate transactions since January, linked to the rise in interest rates and inflation, is causing a loss of our revenue. »
852 children do not have a place in a medical-educational institute
Jean-Luc Gleyze announces that “we are already at a loss of 88 million euros since the start of the year, we will certainly reach 100 to 120 million euros by the end of the year, and it “It is very likely that the year 2024 will be even more catastrophic than 2023.” He also underlines: “During this time, our expenses continue to increase, in particular because we take on responsibilities which sometimes fall to the State, which the latter does not assume. »
It is in the child protection sector, which already represents the largest departmental budget with 310 million euros, that Jean-Luc Gleyze especially calls on the State. “Today we have 852 children, some of whom are in child psychiatry, who would require referral to a medical-educational institute (IME) and who have no place,” he announces. It is intolerable that some of these children end up entrusted to Child Welfare, a departmental service which is not the best suited for them. » And in the end, “it is therefore the department which pays instead of the State, even though it should open places in IME”. With other department presidents, “last week we questioned the Secretary of State for Children Charlotte Caubel on these structural disengagements of the State”.
“We are in a particularly difficult situation”
This situation risks forcing the president of the department to make budget cuts. “We are in a particularly difficult situation, since we would a priori be facing a reduction of 100 million euros in our operating section, and 160 million euros in our investment sector. » A seminar at the end of the month, for which all the vice-presidents “were tasked with working on budgetary savings”, will make it possible to launch the first avenues.
“Will we have to make efforts on our mandatory skills, will we instead work on proactive policies? All of this will inevitably be very complicated,” anticipates Jean-Luc Gleyze.
“The department’s skills concern child protection, but also people with disabilities, the elderly, people in integration,” recalls the elected official. It is also necessary to build colleges and maintain roads, in a department that remains attractive, since it welcomes 20,000 additional inhabitants each year. If we cannot continue to invest, it means that we will not produce the necessary equipment. All of this will have to be the subject of choices, which will be extremely difficult choices. And what I note about the Gironde is valid in all departments of France. »