NICE

The
PACA Regional Chamber of Accounts thrashed in a report released Friday mayor's management of Nice, Christian Estrosi.

The regional audit tip the financial situation "worrying" the fifth largest city in France.

During the study period, from 2006 to 2014, the report is alarming by the melting of the fiscal space of the town, strangled by declining state grants, the cost of investment including the new stadium and the increase in the debt: it rose from 367 million to over 500 million end of 2014.

Despite the downsizing, and pooling with the metropolis, the wage bill remains a concern for the regional audit. And the tax increase until 2009, "did not allow the town to maintain a healthy financial position."

The financial situation of the city is likely to get worse until 2020, more and more financial resources to be devoted to mop the past debts.

In response, annexed to the report, the city "considers that its financial situation is not worrying," pointing the deleterious effect of financial allocations cuts imposed by the government. (A number of corrective measures) have been taken that have taken effect in 2015 and will do so even more this year, said the first deputy mayor, Philippe Pradal.

Efforts have been undertaken that have even allowed to announce on Friday a decrease of 1% of the property tax for 2016, he added, noting that the report of the Accounting Chamber was a "snapshot in late 2014 ".

The financial institution control point as "many irregularities" in relation to the management of human resources, points that the city has been corrected, for those on whom it was possible to act, according to Mr Pradal.

The town, which makes payment of overtime to staff, has not implemented automated control system of working time, as it should and is thus in no way able to check the working hours actually performed by the agents'.

The municipality granted to staff who retire, a "releasable leave" of two months to become aware of their new status of future pensioner, a time during which agents do not occupy a position and costing the city "the equivalent of more than 20 full-time jobs."

The management of the municipal Opera, with an annual budget of around 22 million euros, an amount representing the equivalent of the total operating costs of a Municipality of 10 000 to 15 000 Alpes-Maritimes.

Yet "the activity (one hundred performances) and attendance of opera (of the order of 55 000 spectators per year) are relatively low, since they are in the middle of the ranking of French operas." "The ticket revenues are marginal, the municipality providing 85% of the revenue from the opera and the Alpes-Maritimes department about 8%," the report continues.

The opera has yet means "the most important" of France: it has 350 jobs, including 170 artists and has 80 technicians production center enabling full control of the production chain of a work lyrical.

 
In this regard, a new general director of the Opera, come to Metz, Eric Chevalier, was Friday appointed with a mandate to reform the institution, noted the first deputy.