Local authorities, François Ruffin
State grants to local authorities: « Salle des fêtes » plan (village halls): €1bn a year for five years
Direction of change: increase, compared with current law.
The lever. Sums paid each year by the State to municipalities, départements and regions: amount, distribution, equalisation. Direction rule: ↑ higher grants.
« Nous lancerons un grand Plan « Salle des Fêtes et maisons du peuple » doté d’un milliard d’euros par an pendant cinq ans, pensé comme une politique nationale de rénovation du bâti collectif, des pratiques amateurs et de la vie associative, structuré autour de trois piliers : Nous rénoverons le parc existant, en finançant sur dossier la rénovation énergétique (isolation, chauffage), la mise aux normes de sécurité et d’accessibilité, et l’amélioration des usages (acoustique, scène mobile, modularité) des salles des fêtes, salles polyvalentes et locaux associatifs déjà en service. […] Ce plan s’accompagnera de soutiens au fonctionnement pour les collectivités, au-delà du seul investissement, et pourra associer régies publiques et régies associatives. »1Translation by the editorsWe will launch a major “Salle des Fêtes et maisons du peuple” [village halls and community centres] Plan endowed with one billion euros a year for five years, conceived as a national policy for the renovation of community buildings, amateur practices and associative life, structured around three pillars: We will renovate the existing stock, by funding, on application, energy renovation (insulation, heating), upgrading to safety and accessibility standards, and improved use (acoustics, mobile stage, modularity) of village halls, multi-purpose halls and association premises already in service. […] This plan will be accompanied by operating support for local authorities, beyond investment alone, and may involve public and associative management bodies.
Encoding
| Parameter | Current law | Programme | Effective date or horizon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Additional annual envelope paid to local authorities | 0 €bn/year | 1 €bn/year (assumption by the editors, see the costing) | Full year; to be expressed relative to the extended LPFP (public finance programming act) path |
Costing
Announced by the candidate
−€1bn
per year, cost to the public accounts. « doté d’un milliard d’euros par an pendant cinq ans » [“endowed with €1bn a year for five years”]
Published costings
none
No external costing of this position recorded to date.
Our calculation
−€1bn
per year for the public accounts, new spending. Candidate’s amount, taken as is.
The calculation
- Additional annual envelope paid to local authorities: (1 − 0) ÷ 1 = 1 times “+€1bn a year paid to local authorities”, each a cost of €1bn (1 to 1).
Assumption by the editors. Reading adopted: the plan mainly finances, on application, municipal buildings (village halls, multi-purpose halls, schools open outside school hours); it is counted as an envelope paid to local authorities, at the announced amount (€1bn a year over the five-year term). The share that would go to premises of associations or to association-run services is not distinguished; the « soutiens au fonctionnement » [“operating support”] announced in addition have no amount and are not counted.
Figure announced by the candidate: candidate’s amount, taken as is.
Current law, sources and limits of the cost schedule
Current law. State financial transfers: €49bn in the LFI 2025 (€45bn of deductions from revenue and €4bn of appropriations from the RCT mission). DGF: €27bn in 2025, compared with €40bn in 2014. In 2026, the regions' DGF is brought back into the budget (−€5.2bn of transferred VAT) and the effort asked of local authorities is about €3bn. The LPFP 2023-2027 provided for transfers of €53bn in 2023 and €56bn in 2027.
Horizon. Full year; to be expressed relative to the extended LPFP (public finance programming act) path.
Limits. An envelope announced in euros (for example €10bn over five years) is costed through the parameter in €bn per year, €1 announced = €1 of State spending, not as a percentage of State transfers to local authorities. An increase in grants worsens the State balance but not necessarily that of general government as a whole, if local authorities save or invest. The scope (with or without transferred VAT) changes the amounts: €49bn to €56bn. Indexation of the communes' DGF (general operating grant) to inflation (option, rule on public bases of 18 October 2026): same common assumption as for the public sector pay index point and pensions, inflation of 1.75% per year at the centre (Cour des comptes), 1.5 to 2.0% for the range, first effect on 1 January 2028, cost in 2032 = cumulative gap of five upratings with the current rule (a DGF set each year in the finance act, which remained at €27.4bn in 2025 and in 2026). Communes' DGF in 2025: €12.8bn (Government); 12.8 × (1.0175^5 − 1) = €1.16bn (12.8 × 7.73% = 0.99; 12.8 × 10.41% = 1.33; editors' calculations, 2025 euros). Reading key: one point of indexation for one year is worth €0.128bn for the communes, €0.27bn for the whole DGF. Inter-municipal bodies, departments and regions are not counted. The DILICO (cyclical smoothing mechanism for local authority revenue: €740m in 2026, paid by the regions, the departments and the inter-municipal bodies, 90% paid back to the contributors in thirds over three years, 10% to the horizontal equalisation funds) places local revenue in reserve and returns it to local authorities: as the whole levy goes back to local authorities, abolishing it costs the State nothing in 2032: if renewed each year, that year's levy is returned in 2032 through the repayments of previous years; if not renewed, it no longer exists (editors' reading).
- Fipeco, Les recettes des administrations publiques locales, 2026-07-06: « les « concours financiers de l'Etat » (49 Md€), qui sont constitués de 45 Md€ de « prélèvements sur recettes » et de 4 Md€ de crédits ... La « dotation globale de fonctionnement » (27 Md€ en 2025, contre 40 Md€ en 2014) ... passe de 53 Md€ en 2023 à 56 Md€ en 2027 »
- PLF 2026, Voies et moyens tome I, 2025-10: « la budgétisation de la dotation globale de fonctionnement des régions qui réduit le montant de TVA transféré aux collectivités locales de 5,2 Md€ »
- Assemblée nationale, question orale n° 545 (L. Tivoli), « Baisse de la DGF aux communes », réponse de M. Philippe Tabarot, ministre des transports, au nom du Gouvernement: « « Ces trois dernières années, le montant total de la DGF a augmenté de 790 millions pour s'établir à 27,4 milliards en 2025. En 2025, la DGF pour les communes s'élevait au total à 12,8 milliards d'euros, en hausse de 229 millions d'euros, à périmètre constant, par rapport à 2024. […] Dans le cadre du projet de loi de finances pour 2026, le gouvernement a souhaité préserver le montant de la DGF de 2025 » »
- Maire-info, « Dilico, DGF, fonds vert… ce que contient finalement le budget 2026 », 2026-02-03: « renouvellement du Dilico […] à hauteur de 740 millions d'euros […] Les communes ont, elles, finalement obtenu d'en être entièrement exonérées […] reversée à hauteur de 90 % aux collectivités contributives, par tiers, pendant trois ans. Les 10 % restants alimenteront des fonds de péréquation horizontaux. »
How to read these amounts. These are static costs and revenues, with no feedback effect, over a full year: nothing on growth, employment or the revenue that economic activity would gain or lose. A higher net cost does not on its own make a worse policy, nor net savings a better one: each programme rests on an economic model (demand-led stimulus, lower compulsory levies, consolidation of the public accounts…) that the cost schedule does not settle. GDP itself measures a volume of activity, not well-being or the usefulness of what is produced. Economic models and feedback effects.
- nouspresident.fr, cahier « Pour renouer avec le temps des loisirs ». Read the programme page.
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