Public institution of intercommunal cooperation

From the longer French Wikipedia page [1]

A public institution of intercommunal cooperation ( EPCI ) is a French administrative structure grouping several municipalities to exercise some of their skills in common. This is the most successful form of intercommunality .

EPCIs are governed by the provisions of Part Five of the General Code of Local Government .

There are two types of EPCIs. On the one hand, the EPCI with own taxation, which are the metropolises , the urban communities , the communities of agglomeration and the communities of communes , are so-called "project" establishments which exercise obligatory competences fixed by the law and optional competences entrusted by the municipalities, within the framework of a "territorial project". On the other hand, the EPCI without own taxation, generally called "intermunicipal syndicate" , are created specifically for the purpose of exercising certain skills, and are therefore called "technical" institutions.

Heirs to districts , city communities and new agglomeration unions , which are old forms of intermunicipal collaboration, contemporary EPCIs have particularly developed since the law on the strengthening and simplification of inter-municipal cooperation , known as Chevènement law, ofJuly 1999. Today, in principle, each municipality must belong to an EPCI with own taxation, according to the law NOTRe of 2015 .

EPCIs can themselves collaborate within metropolitan poles and territorial and rural balance poles , which are other forms of intercommunality with mixed union status .

Types of public institutions of intercommunal cooperation

We can distinguish two categories of EPCI: those with own taxation and those without own taxation.

EPCI with own taxation

These intermunicipal structures have the right to levy the tax, in the form of taxation additional to that collected by the municipalities, or, in some cases, in place of the municipalities (example of the single business tax ). In practice, this means that the EPCIs vote the tax rates they want to apply, in accordance with the legal provisions.

Since the reform of the local authorities of 2010 , the categories of EPCI with own taxation are, by sizes and levels of integration growing,

• the communities of municipalities ,
• the agglomeration communities ,
• the urban communities ,
• the metropolises .

Some forms of EPCI have been removed, such as "city communities" or " districts ". The structures concerned have generally turned into communities of municipalities or agglomerations. Since 1 st January 2016, pursuant to OuR law , the last new urban area unions are gone, transformed into urban communities (or West Provence , in the territory of the city of Aix-Marseille-Provence ); this category of inter was however removed at 1 st January 2017 1 .

EPCI without own taxation

Among them are:

• the municipal associations in two categories:
  • the SIVU ( single-purpose intercommunal syndicate ), such as:
    • SICTOM: Syndicat intercommunal de collection and treatment of garbage
    • SITOM: Syndicat intercommunal de traitement des garres ménagères
    • SIROM: Syndicat intercommunal of garbage collection
    • SIRTOM: Syndicat intercommunal of collection and treatment of garbage
    • SAEP: Drinking water supply union
    • SIAEP: Intercommunal syndicate of drinking water supply
    • SRPI: Syndicat de regroupement pédagogique inter-communal
    • SIVC: intercommunal school association
    • SIE: Syndicat intercommunal d'electrification
    • SIAH: Syndicat intercommunal d'aménagement hydraulique
    • SITC: Syndicat intercommunal de transport en commun
    • Intercommunal Syndicate of Ports or Airports Management
    • Intercommunal syndicate of tourist and cultural development (tourist offices, cultural animation, libraries and media libraries, etc.)
    • Syndicat intercommunal de gestion and protection of natural parks
    • Intercommunal Syndicate of Forest Management
    • Intercommunal unions with various vocations such as the reception of the elderly, the nursery ...
  • SIVOM ( intercommunal syndicate with multiple vocation ) grouping in the same entity many of the vocations above.
• The mixed unions

Their resources come mainly from the contributions paid by the member communes.

A union can be taxed. In this case, he will receive a tax additional to that of the municipalities for the 4 local taxes 2 . Unlike the various communities with their own taxation, a union can not vote its tax rates; it only votes an expected tax product, the tax authorities determining accordingly the rates to be applied to obtain this product.

The intercommunal unions (the SIVUs and SIVOMs) are gradually dissolved within the EPCI with their own tax system, in order to achieve economies of scale.

In fact, many inter-municipal unions only existed for cooperation with municipalities that were not members of the same self-taxed EPCIs, in areas where their own EPCI could not provide a service (for example the treatment of household waste or the school bus service). ), and these unions did not include all the municipalities of the EPCIs concerned. All the municipalities of the same EPCI with own taxation are now encouraged to show solidarity, and if the EPCI can not provide a single service for all its communes, it will join a mixed union in which all the communes of all EPCI members will be in solidarity.

The other intercommunal unions remaining within an EPCI are used only to provide non-compulsory services that do not concern all the member municipalities and that do not require cooperation with other EPCI or communities outside the EPCI, nor the solidarity of all the member municipalities. They can exist for example to manage shared equipment shared between two neighboring communes but not directly managed by the EPCI, such as a stadium or a cultural center, a purification plant or a recycling center, or a school restaurant. , they then most often have a unique vocation (SIVU) related to this equipment: they remain as long as this vocation has not been transferred to the EPCI with own taxation (after acceptance by the other communes to take charge of solidarity ).

Creation of an EPCI

The creation of an EPCI takes place in 3 successive stages 3 . It is provided by Article L. 5211-5 of the General Code of Territorial Communities. The prefect holding an important role in the process.

1. Definition of the perimeter of the EPCI . This is a request from municipalities wishing to associate or a project proposed by the state representative himself. It can, in this case and under the general interest, impose the attachment of municipalities that have not expressed the wish to participate in this creation 4 . If the creation is on his initiative, he must also consult the departmental commission of intercommunal cooperation .
2. Consultation of the municipalities concerned . Within a period of 3 months, the municipalities concerned must give their opinion, by a vote, on the project, the perimeter and the future statutes. A qualified majority must be disengaged during the vote. This majority must represent two-thirds of the communes, representing half of the total population, or half of the municipalities comprising two-thirds of the population. In addition, this majority must include communes with more than a quarter of the total population for the communities of communes and, in the case of an agglomeration community or an urban community, more than a quarter of the population of the municipality the most important of the EPCI.
3. The prefect publishes the decree creating the birth of the EPCI.

Organization of EPCI

EPCIs are administered by a deliberative board whose members come from each of the member municipalities.

They are chaired by the Chairman of the Board, which, in addition to its role of preparation and execution of the Board's deliberations, has its own powers. The president is assisted by an office, composed mainly of vice-presidents, which can receive certain delegations of the deliberative council.

Council deliberating The EPCI council is called, according to the statute of the body concerned, union committee, community council or metropolitan council. Each member commune is necessarily represented in this council.

Composition of the board

Until the municipal elections of 2014 , the deliberative councils, whose distribution was fixed by the statutes, consisted of municipal councilors (or voters, for the unions of communes) elected by their peers by majority vote.

The laws of 16 December 2010 and 17 May 2013 have changed the composition of the legislative councils 5 .

In the communities of municipalities and agglomerations , the composition of the council is fixed by deliberation of a qualified majority of the municipal councils of the municipalities concerned, taking into account the population of the communes and so that each municipality has at least one seat and no municipality has more than half of the seats.

In urban communities and metropolitan areas , and in the absence of a qualified majority agreement of the municipal councils for the communities of municipalities and the agglomeration communities , the council is composed in accordance with the provisions of Article L. 5211-6 -1 III to V of the General Code of Territorial Collectivities, that is to say by dividing the number of members between communes mainly proportional representation to the highest average, but with many correctives to ensure that each municipality has at least one seat, regardless of its population, and that the largest municipality does not have an absolute majority of seats 6 .

As far as the unions of communes are concerned , their union committee is made up of two representatives per municipality elected by each municipal council, regardless of the populations of the member communes. Just be registered on the electoral roll of the municipality and not be hit incompatibility to be elected to the union committee 7 .

Member Elections

Starting in the 2014 municipal elections , EPCI advisers are elected in a differentiated manner.

EPCI without own taxation

Representatives of the EPCI without own taxation will remain elected by the municipal councils of the member municipalities.

EPCI with own taxation

The voting system differs according to the size of the municipality:

Representatives of municipalities with 1,000 or more inhabitants in the communities and cities are elected directly through the municipal elections , the ballot of each list including, on the left side, the list of candidates for the municipal council, and on the right side, the list of candidates for the community council 8 . Complex rules govern the elaboration of the lists of candidates for the functions of community advisor so that all the elected representatives are also municipal councilors and ensure respect for parity 9  : "I. - The list of candidates for community councilors' seats appears separately on the same ballot as the list of candidates for the municipal council from which they come. Subject to the II, the presentation of the list of candidates to the municipal council and the deliberative body of the public institution of intercommunal co-operation with own taxation is subject to the following rules:

• 1 ° The list of candidates for the seats of community councilor comprises a number of candidates equal to the number of seats to be filled, plus one additional candidate if this number is less than five and two in the opposite case;
• 2 ° Candidates for community councilors' seats appear in the order of presentation in which they appear on the list of candidates for municipal council;
• 3 ° The list of candidates for community councilors' seats is composed alternately of candidates of each sex;
• 4 ° All candidates nominated in the first quarter of the list of candidates for community councilors must appear, in the same way and in the same order, at the top of the list of candidates for the municipal council.
• 5 ° All candidates for the seats community counselor must be in the top three-fifths of the list of candidates for municipal council.

II. - When the number of Community councilors 'seats to be filled, increased under 1 ° of the I, exceeds three fifths of the number of councilors' seats to be filled, the list of candidates for the seats of community councilor resumes the order of presentation from the list of candidates for the municipal council. "

- Article L. 273-9 of the Electoral Code 10

For example, in a municipality of 9,000 inhabitants, whose number of municipal councilors is 29 members, and whose inter-municipal statutes gave it three community councilors, each list of candidates must provide the names of four candidates in the municipal elections. who are also candidates for the community council (the three seats plus one substitute). All candidates for community councilors must be in the first 17 candidates for the municipal council (three-fifths rule) and the alternating male / female rule must be respected for both municipal and community candidates. In this municipality with 29 municipal councilors, the rule of the first quarter rounded down (4x0.25 = 1) requires that only the head of municipal list must necessarily be placed first on the intermunicipal list. The choice of the four other Community candidates can be among the 16 other first municipal candidates, while respecting the order of presentation: for example, if you place the candidate n o 8 in second place, it is not possible thereafter placing the n o 5 municipal list third. During the election, the distribution of municipal councilors' seats among the various candidate lists is made by proportional representation with a majority bonus, as for councilors , 11 which now ensures the representation of municipal opposition to community councils. , and contributes to the goal of gender parity in community councils. Representatives of municipalities with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants in communities and metropolises are, depending on the number of seats to be allocated, the mayor, possibly deputy mayors and if necessary municipal councilors in the order of table 12 , which is defined as follows:

• "(...) After the mayor, rank the deputies then the municipal councilors.
• (...) deputies take rank according to the order of their election and, between deputies elected on the same list, according to the order of presentation on the list.

In the case of municipal councilors, the order of the table is determined, even when there are electoral sections: (

• 1) By seniority of their election, since the last full renewal of the municipal council;
• 2. Between councilors elected on the same day, by the greatest number of votes obtained;
• 3 ° And, with equal votes, by priority of age. "

- Article L. 2121-1 of the General Code of Territorial Collectivities. 13

In the communities and cities, elected officials are necessarily elected as municipal councilors (or district , for Paris, Lyon and Marseille) 14 . Some of them may be foreign nationals of the European Union, while they can not be mayors or deputy mayors.

Many provisions of the electoral code establish ineligibilities and incompatibilities, designed to ensure both the freedom of conscience of the electorate and the independence of elected officials. Thus, for example, can not be candidates for the functions of municipal councilors certain officials in the communes concerned by the exercise of their function (prefects, judges, police, army officers, senior officials of regional councils or departmental ...), as well as the agents of the commune or the managers of companies working for the commune 15 . Starting in the 2014 municipal electionsthere are other incompatibilities, specifically concerning community counselors. They can not be employees of the EPCI or its intercommunal center of social action, nor be an employee of a municipality member of the EPCI 16 . Similarly, the senior executives and heads of departments holding a delegation of EPCI signature to own taxation to which the municipality adheres 17 will no longer be able to apply for the functions of municipal councilors .

"These provisions make it possible to put an end to unsatisfactory situations characterized by a mixture of types between the exercise of elective functions within intercommunalities and the occupation of professional functions in these same structures 9 . "

President

The president of the EPCI is elected by the deliberative council.

The President is the executive body of the EPCI, prepares and executes deliberations of the deliberative body, which it convenes. He is the head of service of the public institution he represents in court and may delegate some of his duties to the vice presidents or other officers 18 . He is the "territorial authority" within the meaning of the Staff Regulations.

It has certain powers of police, of right for the exercise of the competences of the EPCI, or by voluntary delegation of the communes 19 .

Office

The office of an EPCI is composed of the president, one or more vice-presidents and, possibly, one or more other members.

It may receive delegations of authority from the deliberative board, with the exception of certain matters, particularly in budgetary matters 2