The city of Grenoble announced on Friday an upcoming 25% increase in the municipal share of the property tax in order to finance investments, a “social and climate shield” and free admission to its three museums.
This increase, its only tax lever, must be examined Monday in the municipal council and will be added to an increase of 7% of the bases decided nationally.
It aims to raise around 44 million euros, half of which will be used to cope with inflation, the cost of energy, or the increase in the index point of agents, according to a press release from the ecological municipality.
The other half will be paid into an existing investment plan dedicated to transitions (12 million euros), the strengthening of public services and the establishment of a social and climate shield (11 million euros), according to the same source.
This shield, which should be launched this year, will concern the first three expenditure items of Grenoble residents, which are also the three main levers of greenhouse gas emissions: housing and energy, mobility and public spaces , as well as food, explains the press release.
The City also intends to make free access for all to the Natural History Museum, the Stendhal Museum and the permanent collections of the Grenoble Museum. It also provides for increased social pricing in canteens and wants to move towards completely free school supplies.
The announced increase in the property tax was deemed regrettable by the municipal opposition group Nasa (Nouvel Air, socialists and related), which highlights in a press release the risk of weakening many low-income Grenoble residents, withdrawals with pensions modest, but also those of the middle class.
The city of Grenoble had not increased its tax rate on built land since 2009, according to the city’s website.
In 2021, this rate was 54.72%, the fourth highest in France behind Angers, Amiens and Poitiers, according to data from the UNPI observatory of property taxes.