The mayor of Marseille, Benoit Payan.

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Alain ROBERT / SIPA

The mayor of Marseille Benoit Payan presented on Friday the main orientations of the 2021 budget of the second city of France, constrained by a catastrophic financial situation, but that he wants "proactive" and "without tax increase".

The city councilor spoke Friday on the city's social networks in preamble to the vote on April 2 of the first budget of the new left-wing majority resulting from the coalition of the “Marseille Spring”, which took over the reins of the city. last summer after twenty-five years of management of the right.

Benoit Payan denounced in February the “catastrophic” financial legacy of his predecessors on the occasion of the delivery of an audit highlighting the very limited investment capacity of the city, weighed down by a debt estimated at the end of 2020 at 1.54 billion euros.

"After months of work to save money, we decided with the municipal majority not to increase taxes in 2021", the elected official announced Friday, explaining that the Marseillais had "already sufficiently paid the costs of the pandemic".

Negotiations with banks

And if “the coffers are empty”, we must not “resign ourselves and give up”, he launched defending the principle of “a proactive budget” which “lays the first stones” of the “priorities” of the new majority.

To "oxygenate the finances of the city", the city councilor explains having started by negotiating with the banks "a decrease in debt repayments of" 20 million euros for 2021 and 63 million for the next four years ".

The mayor of Marseille, who has made the renovation of degraded schools one of his priorities, indicates that he is working "now with the State on a rehabilitation plan for all schools that are not in good condition".

Among the other investments made, the elected socialist points to a strengthening of the means of the marine firefighters of Marseille, on the front line in the fight against the Covid, as well as those of the municipal police as well as a doubling of the aid budget to solidarity actors.

The environmental commitment of the majority, in which several elected environmentalists participate, will notably result in the reorientation of several millions to promote "the return of nature to the city" and the preservation of the coastline.

The new majority also intends to allocate 1.5 million euros to participatory budgets discussed with citizens in sector town halls.

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