Something that I have been thinking about for some time is where do local tax goes to really does it go to the village ore the region?
So where do the money for roads come from
Which roads are you talking about ???
Different roads come under different budgets⊠
State, regional or communal funding depending on the status of the road, motorways are business ventures, I suggest you look at service public, financement du réseau routier if you want more detail.
Where are you from? How are roads financed there?
Sometimes a major road project even gets EU funding. Thereâs a new section near me that says itâs funded jointly by the conseil gĂ©nĂ©ral of the department and the EU.
It really does depend which road you are asking about.
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I was thinking like the small roads around the villages all over France
We have answered that one, if you look there are National roads, DĂ©partemental roads and chemins and communal roads and chemins too. Just read what it says on service public, or the DIR for your area.
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And where are you from, Martin?
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I found this site https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/acteurs-route-en-france very helpful in categorising the various highways from Autoroutes to rural roads, showing who is responsible for them (singly or severally), and explaĂning the enormous importance of the road system to the healthy functioning of the nation state.
Certainly it opened my eyes, and I shall never take highways for granted again, as something that takes me âfrom A to Bâ. 
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Is there any thing else that local tax goes to I mean dose it pay for anything in the village you live in school? Mayor? What Iâm interested in it goes back in to the local community ore?
Read the service public pages, I posted the screenshot of the first one, just read them and you will find out.
You can also ask at the mairie, things like bin collections, recycling, anything communal eg school, public buildings, will be funded. Remember a commune isnât just the village, some are huge and have a tiny population. Obviously it goes back into the local community to a greater or lesser extent.
Where are you from? How are things done there?
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Martin
There is a great deal of information in the public domaine - take a look for yourself.
Also, as Vero has said - ask at your local Mairie.
Obviously if you are not in France and/or have no links with France you may not find it so easy to chat with the localsâŠ
Martin, how national and local taxation works and how the countryâs services are funded at each level is a vast question.
I will ramble on for five minutes while my coffee brews and my croissant warms up.
Each commune is run like a business. Il has a conseil municipal which is a committee chaired by the mayor, with various officers including a finance officer. The conseil municipal holds regular meetings which normally the public can attend. Each year it sets the budget for the year, and each year (usually around June if I remember correctly) it sets the base rate for local taxes. If the commune needs to taise more money it can increase the tax, if it is able to reduce the tax it will.
Council meetings are usually reported in the local paper and the minutes are put online. When taxes and funding are discussed there are often âletters to the paperâ arguing this way or that because residents have strong opinions on how their money should be spent. The mayor may feel the need to defend the decisions and write back to explain the reasons behind those decisions.
Things that will probably be in a communeâs budget include salaries for municipal employees, upkeep of public buildings, parks and roads, a budget for the comitĂ© des fĂȘtes and other local associations, rubbish collection unless itâs billed separately, street lighting if there is any, any social services it provides such as a soup kitchen, paying off loans if it has any, etc etc. Plus any major long term investment projects.
Here, the entire sewage infrastructure needed renewing. The pipes were so old they were falling apart and the repair bill each year was getting astro,omical, so it made long term economic sense to put in a whole new infrastructure but obviously we couldnât afford it just like that. Eventually we got the funding together, with help from the Region. It was a massive job because every road had to be dug up.
The previous big project about 15 years ago was to totally refurbish the salle des fĂȘtes and create a media library, the work was done in stages over three or four years.
Last year we got one of those big electronic message signs for the main square.
There has been investment in the campsite to improve pĆovision for the disabled in line wuth the new laws.
Our commune is very proud if its flower displays, we enter the village fleuri competition each year and there is also a local competition for best garden, best window boxes etc.
A few years ago it was decided to start turning the street lights off at night to save on electricity. Previously theyâd been on all night. There was a lot of debate because people were worried about security, but thatâs what we do now.
So as you can see setting the budget is a mix of reviewing ongoing commitments to improve efficiency and planning large and small investment projects to upgrade and improve the commune. But it all depends how big your commune is, what scale it is on.
About ten years ago the roads were blocked by snow for several days. People said to the mayor Itâs ridiculous that the commune doesnât have a snow plough. The mayor said OK. We can buy a snow plough. It will cost xxx thousand euros to buy, it will cost xx hundred euros to insure and service every year whether it snows or not, we will need to build a garage for it. We might use it once or twice a year. To raise the money we will have to either raise taxes or cut other services. Do you still want a snow plough? They didnât.
I could go on for ever because in a way itâs a central issue to where you live in France but I think my croissant is burning so I will stop.
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Thanks for a great explanation really helpful
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He doesnt seem to be able to understand the numerous request for this information, but wants to know about road financing. Bind Moggles
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Itâs my Miggle that Bonds, but he has that effect on me too.
In our commune of about 3 000 souls, almost 100 HLM houses were built in the 1960s to house a growing population when the town was flattened by Allied bombers ( during the Normandy DĂ©barquement) to drive back the German invaders.
The houses have been progressively improved over the years, but fell short of modern insulation standards.
All are now being brought up the highest standards by the commune, to meet the needs of young low-earning families for decent homes, and attract more people to the already very popular town.
The picture below I took today, itâs 100 m from our own house, which escaped the blitz, shows the work in progress. It is replicated all over town. All these dwellings are located in mixed communities of private ownership, no class-based ghettoes here.
