town halls faced with soaring prices

Whereas inflation accelerated further in July, against a backdrop of the repercussions of the war in Ukraine (+ 6% over one year), in France, parliamentarians ensured that local authorities were not forgotten. To enable them to cope with the rise in prices, but also with the revaluation of the active solidarity income (RSA, paid by the departments) and that of the index point of civil servants decided by the government, MEPs added an envelope dedicated to the amending budget, voted this summer. The text provides support of 430 million euros for the municipalities, 120 million euros for the departments and 18 million for the regions.

The mayors will however have to juggle to keep their back-to-school budget, caught between the waltz of labels and the desire to avoid an explosion in the costs of public services. In particular those essential to the most modest of their constituents, such as the school canteen. Thus, in Lyon, there is no question of increasing prices for schoolchildren. “Of course, we are feeling the first effects of inflation on our budget, and we will have to take measures to adapt. But we are ruling out any repercussions on canteen prices: households are already in difficulty, we are not going to add to it”, says Audrey Hénocque, first assistant for finance, public procurement and major events.

Read also: Back-to-school allowance, exceptional bonus: what is the difference between the two schemes?

The environmentalist majority intends to preserve a major marker of its mandate, after having suffered controversy over menu changes, with a vegetarian alternative. Inflation, however, forced the municipality to a deliberation amending the budget in July, to deal with an increase in electricity and gas bills of 1 million euros. A plan for sobriety and “targeted spending limits” is considered.

“I refuse to increase canteen prices when parents are already experiencing the consequences of inflation in their daily lives”, also says the mayor of Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), Sophie Joissains. For the elected representative (Union of Democrats and Independents), it is a question of offering “the certainty of a complete and balanced meal for children”, in an agglomeration which, despite its bourgeois reputation, has, according to INSEE, 14% of households below the poverty line.

“Being in management allows you to better control costs”

At the start of the school year, the prices will therefore be the same as those of December 2018. “However, the cost of a meal has gone from 9.96 euros in 2019 to 12.72 euros at the end of 2021. And for 2022, it should reach 13 euros”, calculates Sophie Joissains. “We make choices about our other expenses. And the fact of being in control [cuisine centrale municipalisée] allows us to better control these costs”, she explains.

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