2010 Annual Report

Expenditure

Administrative expenditure

Definition:
Administrative expenditure: this comprises staff expenditure, subsidies and contributions paid out by the City, costs of a general nature, etc. Controlling the growth of such costs is a major concern for local authorities in the face of the sluggishness of revenues.

Key figure:
Changes in administrative expenditure: + 0.1% in 2010.

Major effort to control administrative expenditure in 2010

Comprising staff expenditure, subsidies and contributions paid out by the commune, as well as costs of a general nature pertaining to the structure and activities of its services, the City's administrative expenses amounted to €325.5 M in 2010, up a mere 0.1%.

This practical stability was the result of the very modest rise in staff expenditure (+0.8%) and general service expenditure (+1.3%), combined with the drop in the transfers paid (-1.9%).

The factors responsible for the increase in staff expenditure mainly consist of the rise in wages (+0.5% on 1st July 2010), the wage drift due to seniority and experience (€1.6 M), the impact of contributions for retiring staff (€0.2 M) and the employer's increasing contribution to transport costs (€0.1 M).

The pooling of services between the City and the Urban Community of the Metropolis of Nantes, which had started in 2008, resulted in savings equivalent to 5 jobs in 2010.

Transfers of subsidies and contributions to external organisations, which are the City of Nantes' second biggest expenditure, amounted to €92.4 M in 2010.

The City's other administrative expenditure rose slightly (+1.3%), totalling €62.7 M.

Capital expenditure

Definition:
Capital expenditure: This represents actual capital expenditure and excludes the repayment of the capital of the debt.

Key figure:
Capital expenditure: €75.1 M in 2010, i.e. €258 per inhabitant.

Rise in capital expenditure in 2010, with the continuation of the projects launched in 2009

While capital expenditure had risen sharply in 2009 (+€10.0 M), the City further stepped up its effort in 2010 as its capital expenditure increased by €5.3 M.

This expenditure, which comprises the City's own capital expenditure (€71.3 M) and capital grants (€3.8 M), totalled €75.1 M in 2010. Per inhabitant, it amounts to €258, a figure which tends to be drawing nearer to the average for French communes with over 100,000 inhabitants (€336 per inhabitant).

Culture is a sector on which the City focused major efforts, notably through the continuation of the building work at La Fabrique (€12.0 M) and the studies concerning the Grand Musée d'Art project (€3.2 M). For 2010, the City's cultural capital expenditure amounted to €19.7 M (i.e. 28% of the total).

The City's two other major focuses in 2010 were the community support & social life sector and the education sector, with capital expenditure amounting to €12.4 M and €12.0 M respectively. The biggest expenses concerned school maintenance (€4.9 M), the extension of the Linot school (€2.4 M), the launch of the restructuring work at the Bout des Pavés/Ecole Paul Gauguin leisure centre (€1.1 M).

The City's capital expenditure programme also benefitted other sectors: Planning, Heritage, Archaeology and Living Environment (€10.5 M), administration of public services (€8.5 M), sport (€7.9 M), as well as relations with residents and safety (€0.3 M).

The sustainable maintenance of the City's buildings is also a major concern. In 2010, the City dedicated €14.0 M to this work, including €8.7 M for sport and cultural facilities