Le Figaro Nice
After 15 years spent at the head of Nice town hall without having increased the taxation of its citizens, Christian Estrosi (Horizons) is preparing, willy-nilly, to do so. Wednesday, during the municipal council devoted to the budgetary orientation debate, the councilor confirmed that the property tax would increase by around 6% for built properties, by 4% for second homes, and that the rates for non-built properties built-up areas would increase from 32% to 38%. On average, this corresponds to an additional 12 euros per month for the people of Nice, which will allow the community, at the same time, to recover a little more than 50 million euros.
This effort required of owners could also worry some tenants: they could see this increase in taxation reflected in their rent. This is not the first. On the metropolitan side, again chaired by Christian Estrosi, an increase in the household waste removal tax was voted on last year and in 2018, this same community created a new metropolitan tax on built land.
The teams from the Nice municipality therefore worked hard upstream and downstream of the debate to pass the pill. It was initially a failure with a deserted press conference a week before. It was still diluted in the local media. And then, it was impossible to escape when the moment came.
"Interventionist"
So, Christian Estrosi spoke endlessly, with numerous supporting documents, to justify himself in a context where his opponents continue to hound him over his financial management.
“I will not be the mayor who turns his back on the people of Nice when they need it most, I assume the choice of this catch-up
,” he insisted. He thus described himself
as an “interventionist”
advocating
“a policy of the heart which has a cost”
.
“My political culture is neither Thatcher nor Reagan, it’s Pompidou, de Gaulle, Bonaparte,”
he punctuated his tirade.
With him, the majority has thus defended itself from wanting to maintain a
“high level of public service”
and is putting forward a budget tied up to the tune of 120 million euros. For the mayor, it is a
“perfect continuity”
of his model. He thus promises that the prices of the canteen, leisure receptions, entrance to the swimming pool and museums, library loans or even “fit seniors” sessions will not increase. No cent less regarding security either, he also promised. In a context of rising delinquency,
“security has a cost but it has no price
,” he added. The inflationary
“exceptional context”
was also put forward at the same time as a slip in the departmental council, the eminence of the enemy Éric Ciotti. According to the chief magistrate, the department
“turns away from the life of the people of Nice”
.
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Unanimously, the oppositions denounced this choice, which for them is not understood so much in the maintenance of local public services, but rather in the large-scale projects desired by Christian Estrosi. The disputed destruction of the national theater and the convention center is back on the table to extend the green flow, or even the hosting of major events.
“Unbearable project”
A
“frantic race towards expensive and useless projects”
, for the leader of Nice environmentalists, Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux, for whom
“taxes could only increase”
.
“A wet-fingered policy and unparalleled opportunism”
mocked Valérie Delpech, elected Reconquête!, who still sees it as
“fiscal barbarity”
. A choice to
“avoid being placed under guardianship”
, according to Bernard Chaix, elected “ciottist”.
Éric Ciotti, who is eyeing the town hall in 2026, also issued a press release
“solemnly”
asking his former mentor to
“give up”
. For him,
“this unbearable project”
reveals
“the weight of an abysmal debt”
and instead defends
“the reduction in operating expenses”
of the municipality.
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Faced with these attacks,
"the same ones for 15 years"
, Christian Estrosi brushed off as usual, he insisted on the fact that Nice had the lowest taxation of all other major French cities.
“It depends on the rental value!”
, shouted the elected representative of the Greens, Jean-Christophe Picard.
“You will vote against, it doesn’t matter
,” said the councilor, sure of his line.
You need an argument to oppose, I answer that it is a budget which reinforces the credibility of Nice.