|
| Resources
for action |
| For a project to become reality, financial
resources are required. So how does the CDA, which does not levy taxes
on households, find the funding? |
How is expenditure broken down ?
Example taken from the 2004 budget :
|
35.53% of the master budget goes into services to the public (water and sanitation, municipal solid
wastes, urban transport) |
|
20.26% for the economy, employment and labour market integration. |
|
21.07% for infrastructure development, urban planning, road systems, and bike paths. |
|
14.43% for culture and education. |
|
6.28% for social actions. |
|
2.43% other. |
CDA revenues come
from
- Businesses, which pay a business tax. The rate is uniform
for all of the towns in the conurbation and the tax revenues are
pooled at CDA level. This is known as the TPU, the "Taxe Professionnelle
Unique" or single business tax.
- The State, which funds each conurbation according to
the size of its population. This is known as the "Dotation Globale
de Fonctionnement", a general reallocation of operating funds.
A healthy financial
situation
Although the TPU has been levied at the same rate since 1996, the
revenues generated from this tax have risen, a sign of the conurbation's
economic vitality.
Existing businesses have flourished, and new ones have sprung up,
all of them contributing their share, via the TPU, to the area's development.
Meanwhile, the State too increased its funding allocation to the conurbation
to reflect the rise in population, here again a sign of the area's
dynamic growth.
In short, the CDA's budget is a healthy one.
Like all other local authorities, the CDA does of course rely on borrowing
to finance long-term capital investment in infrastructure.
The CDA, however, has a financial structure such that its debt-carrying
capacity is 2 years. This means it is capable of paying off debt within
that lapse of time. In contrast, warning signals begin to flash elsewhere
when the debt-redemption capacity stretches over a period of 11 or
12 years.
Secondary budgets
The public services under the CDA's authority are generally covered
by secondary budgets.
This is the case for sanitation, urban transport, waste management
and economic affairs.
Some of these budgets are balanced by the revenues generated from
the service. Others require grants taken from the main budget. All
together, these secondary budgets account for more than half of the
CDA's master budget, which totalled 175.32 million euros in 2004.
|
 |
|
|
