“Cuisine en Velay has a deficit of 182,000 euros in 2021, because we mainly sold below our cost price”, announced Roland Lonjon on Monday evening in the municipal council. To balance accounts, it will increase its rates by 20% for member communities, namely Bains, Brives-Charensac, Chaspuzac, Le Puy-en-Velay, Sanssac-l’Eglise, Vazeilles Limandre, Solignac-sur-Loire and Vals – near -le-Puy.
The city of Le Puy-en-Velay has therefore proposed to bring the sales prices in line with the cost price: we note on the new price list, valid from 1 January 2023, significant increases, “necessary in light of the general context increase in all goods” (especially food and energy).
In primary schools, the meal with bread will be charged €5.44 compared to €4.52 currently. In kindergarten €4.62 against €3.84. In nurseries it goes from €4.03 to €4.86. Cuisine en Velay also offers a service of delivery and delivery of meals to private schools, leisure centers, delivery of meals to CCAS, Le tremplin, CFA de Bains. It also manages the IUT self-service and delivers 200 meals daily.
The opposition did not fail to react, starting with Laurent Johanny:
Each community is responsible for family awards. Knowing that the most modest families will be hardest hit, I propose to stay at the current price and that society bear the additional cost; we must refocus on essential needs.
In addition to the individual price increase, it is the future of Cuisine en Velay that is at stake: Some mayors already considered the price too high. Jean-Williams Semeraro pointed out that a 24% increase had already taken place last year.
Roland Lonjon temporized by emphasizing that this year it was society that had borne the extra costs. “Officers don’t have time to search new communities. There are leads, but it will take some time.
The thought came back that with Cuisine en Velay society had eyes bigger than its stomach. An argument defended by Laurent Johanny, for whom “the amount of meals is too important. We set up too big a structure because we didn’t have the businesses. We are not in the business of doing business.” More broadly, the question arose as to whether the city still has the wherewithal to choose what it puts on its children’s plates.
Michel Chapuis shared his questions about the future of Cuisine en Velay.
There are several solutions to manage this tool; favoring organic products and supporting local producers has a cost. The agreement is a solution, just like the Delegation for public service, because it is not a society’s task to cook. In that case, we enter a market, but that is another choice. A final solution would be to increase the volume, but there are no margins and the equipment does not allow it. Should we reduce the volume to preserve the structure exclusively for the city of Le Puy? Make it a community tool? Excluded, due to the deficit.
Amid all these questions, there is one certainty for the mayor: “The year 2023 will be decisive because we will again be on a 20% increase, between energy, transport… I fear the 2023 result! One thing is certain, we must stop: the city cannot pay 182,000 euros in deficit to other communities. The outcome will probably be painful”.
And to mention the example of a neighboring municipality, which negotiates the price of a meal in the canteen for €3.58 with a private service provider. “But what do children eat at that price? he wondered.
Nathalie Courtial
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