“A local budget you cannot forecast is not a budget”

LECAP — What sets a local budget apart from a national one?

The share of resources it does not decide. A territorial entity raises a small part of its revenue and receives the rest through transfers. It therefore depends on a payment whose amount and date it does not set, to fund services it answers for before the population.

LECAP — Why insist on the date rather than the amount?

Because an insufficient amount can be managed: you scale back, you prioritise, you explain. An unpredictable amount cannot be managed. You can neither commit to a multi-year contract, nor hire, nor plan road maintenance, because you do not know whether cash will be there in the third quarter. The administration then shifts to day-to-day management, which costs more and delivers less.

LECAP — What indicator can a citizen follow?

The execution rate and the calendar of transfers, where they are published. Not the amount announced in the finance act: the amount actually paid, and when. The gap between the two is the most honest measure of where devolution really stands.

LECAP — What would you change first?

Predictability before level. A smaller amount paid on a fixed date allows more than a larger amount paid at random. That is counter-intuitive from a distance, and obvious to anyone holding the cash box.