If Cholet spends so little and controls its budget, it is because its mayor, Gilles Bourdouleix (various right-wingers), elected continuously for 25 years, has initiated an intense policy of "pooling" services between the agglomeration he presides. and its 26 member municipalities.
Objective: cut in staff costs, which account for half of operating costs.
"We avoid duplication: there is for example only one finance department, only one HR department, only one legal affairs department," explains his deputy Frédéric Pavageau, himself in charge of finance.
A “transfer policy” of unused buildings - which de facto reduces heating or security costs - also enables the city to control its expenditure.
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Ideally located in the West, at the heart of a motorway junction, Cholet can above all count on the wealth of its industrial area, which generates a lot of local taxes and which allows it not to resort too much to expensive bank loans.
Finally, in this rural region of the Mauges where artisanal businesses are legion, cultural reasons can also be put forward.
“Of course, there is a certain peasant culture here, where a penny is a penny, but it is above all our pragmatism that characterizes us, wants to believe Frédéric Pavageau.
We have no dogmas: if we have to resort to the private sector, we do it.
“Result: the city spent 703 euros in 2019 for each of its 56,075 inhabitants.
The locals don't complain
An “atypical, trickle-down” management denounced by Karim Abdelouahad, president of the CFTC in Maine-et-Loire which has no union section in Cholet: “The mayor is a very uninhibited and authoritarian liberal.
If he has so little operating expenses, it may be because he has sea urchins in his pockets.
"
The crossed inhabitants, them, do not seem to complain about it.
"The city is well endowed with equipment and is very well managed: when you need a public service, it's fast and efficient", finds the owner of the restaurant-pizzeria La Dolce Vita, located just in front of the Town hall, Huguette Boudeau, 62 years old.
“I won't tell you that we don't pay enough taxes, but we accept them better when the service rendered is good.
In the end, it's fairly fair, ”she continues.
Crossed at the exit of the media library, with his daughter and his companion, Cyr has only one grievance to make: this 40-year-old fire safety officer would like more municipal police officers to drive out the “bandits” who “drink” and “break” the windows ”of cars parked at Place Travot, one of the main squares in the city.
The municipal police are nevertheless there: it is his address!