France/Merger of the municipalities of Saint-Denis and Pierrefitte: some cities have already made this choice, what changes for the inhabitants?

In Seine-Saint-Denis, the municipalities of Saint-Denis and Pierrefitte plan to join forces. A new city of about 150,000 inhabitants could be born from this merger. Other towns in the Paris region have already merged. What are the consequences for citizens?

In the Île-de-France region, eight municipalities resulting from mergers now exist, according to the Île-de-France Mayors' Association. This is the case, for example, of Moret-Loing and Orvanne in Seine-et-Marne. Evry-Courcouronnes in Essonne, and Saint-Gearmain-en-Laye which merged with Fourqueux in Yvelines.

Several precedents in the region

One of the pioneers in this field is Evry-Courcouronnes. The two municipalities began this rapprochement in 2018, before making it official in 2019. The citizens have been able to benefit from this union, in the opinion of Medhy Zeghouf both administratively and culturally for example. "Evry had 55,000 inhabitants, when Courcouronnes had 15,000. Before, the inhabitants of Courcouronnes had to go to Evry to get their identity papers. Thanks to the rapprochement, they can now go to their town hall, since biometric terminals have been installed there," says the deputy mayor of Evry-Courcouronnes (No label). He also adds that "the Courcouronnais can thus benefit from additional media libraries".

On the budget side, being a single municipality allows to obtain more public funds. "With the scarcity of state credits for public authorities, this has enabled us to obtain more resources to develop public services, for example. Our merger led to additional credits for a few years," continues Medhy Zeghouf. The new city has also been able to invest in other areas: "We have invested 280 million euros over 6 years, to finance, among other things, the renovation of 14 of the 50 schools in the municipality, or that of the regional shopping center."

Another example in the Yvelines, in the western part of the Île-de-France region, with Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt. "Le Chesnay had 29,000 inhabitants, almost 10 times as many as Rocquencourt. The inhabitants of this town have been able to benefit with the merger of public services of a large city, especially in terms of nurseries or education, "says Richard Delepierre, mayor (MoDem) of this city.

Mergers, common in France

Beyond the region, this movement of mergers between several municipalities is common. "The provision is provided for in the General Code of Territorial Authorities. There was already a law in 1970, but it never really came into force," recalls Bernard de Froment. The lawyer specializing in public law in Paris adds that "the inhabitants of western France are more inclined to accept these mergers, which are strongly encouraged by the public authorities.

The communes can benefit in two ways, according to the specialist: "The mutualization of public services, which leads to management savings, but also larger budgets that allow for better sized public facilities in relation to these agglomerations created."Themost important municipality absorbs another, so some citizens will remain attached to the one that will be absorbed. We must not forget that this frustration of the population will also generate more litigation for the commune born of this merger."

Saint-Denis and Pierrefitte, soon hand in hand

North of Paris, the cities of Saint-Denis, population 113,000, and Pierrefitte, population 31,000, are considering whether to merge as well. If this project comes to fruition, the new municipality could be born in 2025 with a total of 144,000 inhabitants.

The city council issued a vow this Thursday, April 20: to bring the two municipalities together. Voted by a majority according to the mayor (Socialist Party) of Saint-Denis, Mathieu Hanotin. "Out of 94 city councillors, 71 approved the idea and there were 3 abstentions that the abstainers described themselves as benevolent," says the elected official. There are still opponents to this project, like the deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis (PCF-Nupes), Stéphane Peu.

"It will be called Saint-Denis and will include a delegated commune of Pierrefitte, on the current perimeter of this commune. The process is starting, it will last a total of about twenty months. The merger will be effective on January 1, 2025," says the mayor.

The elected municipal official points out several advantages, in particular for the inhabitants of Pierrefitte. "The residents of Pierrefitte will immediately find their interest, for example with the municipal police 24 hours a day, from January 1, 2025. This is not the case today. From the beginning of 2025, we will have public services that will improve: on the fight against substandard housing, because there are more resources at the scale of Saint-Denis, than at the scale of the commune of Pierrefitte. On September 1, 2025, we will start the free canteen," says Mathieu Hanotin, mayor of Saint-Denis (PS). On the other hand, the population of Saint-Denis will not see too many changes. "On thefirst day of the merger, for the Dyonisien of today, it will not change much. His taxes will not increase, it will be quite neutral for him".

According to the elected official, it will take a little patience to see changes in the territory of the new entity: "In the medium term, it is the whole of the large municipality that will gain, because our capacity to invest and prepare for the future will be multiplied. We have huge challenges ahead of us to organize our cities in the face of climate challenges, to create a resilient city.All of this requires a lot of investment, to create harmonious cities with many public services. We will be much better equipped to do this in a commune of 150,000 inhabitants," adds the elected official.

During the establishment of this new commune, the city will receive temporary aid from the State. "These support mechanisms are advantageous for both communes, let's say. They are transitory: it is not to get the aid that we make this new commune. We are doing it because we are certain that it is the right scale to respond to the political problems before us. Nevertheless, any help that we can take, we will be there to take it. Obviously,Pierrefittois' taxes will go down: they have a rate that is far higher than that of Dyonisiens, probably by about 20%", Mathieu Hanotin concludes.

The Dyonisian elected official continues: "There will be no increase in local taxes to finance the new city. Neither in 2025 nor in 2026. I promised that there would be no tax increase between 2020 and 2026. After that, I hope that we will continue the logic of the effort that the city of Saint-Denis has begun, on the scale of the global perimeter, to try not to increase taxes in the future. If they were to increase, they should not be linked to a financial problem linked to a new city, but to a new policy. It would then be a new contract that will be made with the voters, when the time comes."

Source: france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr