The economic and energy crisis are increasingly impoverishing the population of our country. As for the Walloon towns, some mayors are also worried regarding the future of their towns, which would be heading straight for bankruptcy. Will the mayors go on strike?
On the set of the program It’s not every day on Sunday, Claude Eerdekens, the mayor of Andenne, sounded the alarm.
“The situation for the municipalities is dramatic, as for the households and citizens who are going through this energy crisis. With all the charges that are passed on to us, from the federal government and the region, we are seeing spending explode For example, in our police zone, salaries will increase over four years by nearly 40% with unchanged staff, but the staffing, the increase in federal spending to help us will only be 6.5%. We are told that, while we will have to pay 4.5 million euros in 2023 for the Nage rescue zone, the federal state is increasing the 2023 allocation compared to the 2022 allocation by 172 euros. “
He pursues: “Are we going to go so far as to close the swimming pools? The goal is to avoid that. I consider that all services have a utility. We are on the front line to meet the needs of the population. But if we are strangled in excluding for example the long-term unemployed, they will go to the CPAS. Just for us, it is 400,000 euros in additional expenses per year. The Walloon region is unable to collect the property tax. On 1is January 2021, this is the region that took over the collection. We received 750,000 euros less than when it was the Federal. Wallonia receives only 90%. 10% are in nature, permanently lost for all the Walloon municipalities. I think we should have a one-day strike. We are strangling municipalities, as we are strangling households by the lack of solutions to the energy crisis.
David Clarinval, the Deputy Prime Minister (MR), also intervened.
“Claude Eerdekens is right. Municipalities, companies and citizens are faced with a maddening increase in energy costs and also with wage indexation which leads to an increase in their expenditure. It is important that Europe, the Federal and Regional authorities are taking care to reduce the price of the invoice. This requires a reduction in contributions and the abolition of certain taxes which weigh on energy. There is still room for improvement. We can still do this because at the level Federal, we have not yet reduced all excise duties on electricity, for example.
On the question of the police, Minister Verlinden is aware of this and she intends to increase the allocation to the municipalities, in particular to cope with the cost increases which are weighing on the shoulders of the municipalities. Claude Eerdekens is also right on the fact that the Region is less effective in recovering the property tax contribution. We see that there are more than 10% losses. According to my information, the Region would struggle to enroll people and would encounter difficulties in going as fast as the Federal. It is a reduction for the revenues of the municipalities.
