What was going to be discussed for the last municipal council of 2024? Big money of course. After a year marked by the budgetary crash (budget insincere correction by the State, control of the Regional Chamber of Accounts, etc.) we were inevitably going to talk about accounts from the city of Noyon. The agenda offered more than the opportunity, including a modifying decision, the second of the year. This exercise allows you to adjust the budget.
On this Friday, December 13 evening, the mayor LR Sandrine Dauchelle therefore proposes financial movements to its council. On the main budget: + 152,000 euros in operation and – 287,000 euros in investment. In short: reduce the budget for projects to finance the city’s poorly managed lifestyle. The corrected budget shows that the city has thus seen too short for chapter 11 (general costs, including energy) which needs an additional 300,000 euros.
An unexpected “energy” saving: water
He is the opposition councilor David Bajeux who goes first. “Why amend Chapter 11 by 300,000 euros?” he asks, falsely ingenuous. “Well it’s very clear, you know that the bills are increasing,” retorts Mayor Dauchelle. “We are in 2024 and Noyon is still suffering from the energy crisis that many communities have managed to absorb?”, wonders Councilor Bajeux. He asserts in passing that the situation of the town of Noyon in this matter “is not so exceptional”, since it was not selected by the State among the municipalities requiring aid this year. Sandrine Dauchelle then assures that this was already the case last year. What is false: it is the Pays Noyonnais which was deprived of it. Chapter 11 ultimately increased from 5.1 million in 2021 to 6.5 million in the forecast at the start of the year and now stands at 6.8 million. “A delta of 1.7 million” calculated David Bajeux.
For David Bajeux, Sandrine Dauchelle missed an opportunity by refusing the principle of an open commission to work on questions of energy sobriety. “What use would that be since you are conspicuous by your absence in the commissions?” retorts the first magistrate. Wanting to illustrate the efforts made in terms of sobriety, she then mentions the LED equipment of part of the public lighting, then gets confused by citing the “recycling of water”… to laughter a little mockery of the opposition.
Illegal movements between the CCAS and the main budget?
Former mayor Patrick Deguise wonders about financial movements between the CCAS (Communal Center for Social Action) “which seem illegal”. “You are taking a CCAS investment surplus of 120,000 euros to transfer it to the city for operations,” he underlines. Will CCAS money be used to pay for the city’s lifestyle? “We are walking on our heads,” he believes. First in denial, Sandrine Dauchelle ends up confirming the principle between the lines. But everything is legal according to her.
What about the promises made to the CRC?
Then comes the annoying point: has the city made progress on the two promises made to the Regional Chamber of Accounts when the latter reworked the budget deemed insincere? It is Carole Bureau-Bonnard which, for the opposition, puts its foot in the dish and asks where the loans are for a total of 1.8 million that the city said it could contract and the 2.2 million in promised real estate sales. Mayor Sandrine Dauchelle, never precise on the figures, announces an inventory “for the start of the school year” on real estate. “But we have compromises, we have made good progress,” she wants to reassure. And what about loans? “For the moment we have had 500,000 euros and we are still in talks with other banking organizations.” “It’s the end of December and you only have 500,000 euros out of 1.8 million? And well….”, whistles Patrick Deguise who has always doubted the city’s ability to achieve these objectives.
What if the mayor set an example?
Throughout the deliberations – small sales projects, sponsorship: many deliberations intended to plug financial gaps – there was also a question of exemplarity. “You asked for efforts from everyone: from very heavily taxed taxpayers, from associations who saw their subsidies reduced and recently from seniors who were given a starving Christmas package,” summarizes David Bajeux. Everyone sees the question coming: “And you? In a constrained context which raises fears of reductions in appropriations, many mayors have decided not to organize a greeting ceremony. The mayor’s response is destabilizing: “You have a problem with what works,” says Sandrine Dauchelle, who explains that her greeting ceremony “is not a greeting ceremony, but a moment of sharing with families.” A moment of sharing where the main character is Sandrine Dauchelle.
Like a stand-up artist on tour, Sandrine Dauchelle then launches into a… gauge competition. “You have never managed to have more than 100 or 120 entries (she said to Patrick Deguise), Editor’s note and we had to ban people, because 750 people were in a hurry,” says she said. The city has no more money, but the mayor fills the rooms. Yay. Former mayor Patrick Deguise prefers to talk about money: “We know how you fill the rooms, by sending 3,000 letters stamped 1.64 euros each,” announces the one who mentions a cost “including communication” of 39,500 euros “source DGFIP (Public Treasury )” for the mayor’s last wishes. The mayor contests, citing a cost “at most 17,000 euros”.
But Sandrine Dauchelle still made a promise: her 2024 wishes will cost less. We believe it: there is no more money.
The general increase in prices postponed
Is it because nothing should spoil the end of the year? The council was to vote this Friday on a general increase of 5% in municipal rates due to “the energy crisis” and the increase “in the cost of living”. We are talking here about room rentals, museum prices, subscriptions to the media library, entries to the swimming pool (although… closed), funeral concessions and rates applicable to professionals as well as for the weekly markets. The file was finally adjourned without explanation: we will talk about money again in 2025.
The “fake news” of Oise Hebdo
During the previous council meeting, in mid-October, Patrick Deguise requested the results of the internal financial audit launched in September by the new director general of services. At the end of the year, he returns to the charge. Based on our revelations concerning the note from the city’s service directors who this summer estimated “between 4 and 5 million” the amount of unpaid debts. “Fake news from your friends at Oise Hebdo,” retorts finance assistant Dominique Rafignon. Fake news? But then, how many unpaid invoices? “We are in the last phase of the audit”, the one which “takes the most time”, “but we have enormously absorbed the unpaid invoices”, says the elected official without ever revealing a figure. Let’s summarize: she doesn’t know, but “fake news” all the same.
Paradisio had not received its subsidy, despite promises
Speaking of fake news… The same Dominique Rafignon had “with great contempt”, recalled Patrick Deguise on Friday, affirmed during the last council that all of the 2023 subsidies due to the Paradisio cinema had been paid. “Madam Mayor signed payment mandate number 3046 on September 26, 2023 for an amount of 11,400 euros,” assured the finance assistant. The opposition had shown its surprise. Wanting to be biting, she added: “I also invite whoever told you that to go and check the accounts of Paradisio.” It’s really bad luck: the author of the information was the manager of Paradisio, Orlando Gomes himself. And he was right. The finance assistant had to concede, a little sheepishly, on Friday at the end of the council. “It will be paid,” added Dominique Rafignon. This elected official who calls out “fake news” inspires us with a proverb, often used by politicians: when the monkey wants to climb the coconut tree, it must have clean buttocks.
No pain for traders?
During this municipal council, Sandrine Dauchelle dared: the merchants’ invoices were paid by the city. Councilor Deguise remained silent: “That’s not what the merchants who receive payments corresponding to only 20% of their invoices are telling us, with a word of apology from your DGS!”
Sandrine Dauchelle has “a dream”
She must have had difficulty finishing her first term as mayor, but it is no longer necessary to get Sandrine Dauchelle out of her daydreams. “I have a dream,” she slipped into the middle of this council, “to be in 2032, because I would have served the 2026-2032 mandate.” The opposition and the public responded with a somewhat annoying general burst of laughter. Patrick Deguise concluded: “Today it is Waterloo, in 2032 it would be Bérézina…” Those who know the history of France and the emperors know that this is not a compliment.
The cudgel strategy?
Eager to hide debates that are never very flattering for the executive, Sandrine Dauchelle recently decided to stop broadcasting advice on the web. Now that the public is physically moving, the strategy seems to be to discourage them for next time. In any case, this is how we interpret the new fad of the elected officials of the Dauchelle team who now read until the last line of the deliberations, repeating the same articles of law dozens of times. Literally knocking out: better than a blow with a club behind the ears. “Everywhere else we present the deliberations orally with summary sheets,” said Patrick Deguise annoyed. Please, for the public, for all elected officials, it’s not possible to see that…”. Response from Sandrine Dauchelle: “It’s because you are too litigious.” The fact that this childishness corresponds to the arrival of the omnipresent DGS Chokri Mastouri is undoubtedly a coincidence…
Postponement of the CRC report: another “fake news”
We announced it: the report from the CRC (Regional Chamber of Accounts) was not on the agenda of the municipal council. And we had a theory: the mayor did not want to spoil the holidays with a report that promises to be damning. As a former mayor, Patrick Deguise explained that he received his extract from the report on October 29. But not Sandrine Dauchelle. Therefore, would the mayor illegally keep the report under wraps? In a very formal email, the CRC simply states that the mayor has not received her final report. Of which act. But we reiterate: Sandrine Dauchelle did everything to delay the publication of the report until next year. Patrick Deguise seems to know more than he can say. “You know very well what happened,” he told the mayor during the meeting, then promising “explanations when the time comes.” That is to say after the publication, finally, of the report.
