The department’s contribution to the fire and rescue service’s budget is set each year by a deliberation of the departmental council in the light of the report on changes in the service’s foreseeable resources and expenses over the coming year, adopted by the service’s board of directors.
The relationship between the department and the fire and rescue service and, in particular, the department’s contribution, are the subject of a multi-year agreement.
The methods for calculating and distributing the contributions of the communes and the public establishments for inter-communal cooperation responsible for managing the fire and rescue services to the financing of the fire and rescue service are set by the latter’s board of directors. To this end, the board of directors may take into account, for the benefit of the municipalities and public establishments for inter-municipal cooperation, the presence in their workforce of permanent or non-permanent public employees with the status of volunteer firefighters, the availability granted to them during working hours or the social measures taken in favour of volunteers. The board of directors may, in addition, take into account the situation of communes and public establishments for inter-communal cooperation located in rural areas or with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants.
The contributions of communes, public establishments for inter-communal cooperation and the department to the fire and rescue service budget constitute compulsory expenditure.
As an exception to the fourth paragraph of this article, the contributions to the fire and rescue service budget of the communes that are members of a public inter-communal cooperation establishment with its own tax status created after 3 May 1996 may be the subject of a transfer to this establishment, under the conditions provided for in article L. 5211-17. In this case, the contribution of this public establishment of inter-municipal cooperation is determined by taking into account the sum of the contributions of the communes concerned for the financial year preceding the transfer of these contributions to the public establishment of inter-municipal cooperation.
The presence of tenured or non-tenured public employees with the status of volunteer firefighter among the workforce of the communes that are members of this establishment may be taken into account when calculating the overall amount of the contribution that it pays.
Before 1st January of the year in question, the provisional amount of the contributions mentioned in the fourth and fifth paragraphs, decided by the board of directors of the fire and rescue service, is notified to the mayors and presidents of the public establishments for inter-communal cooperation.
For the financial years following the promulgation of the loi n° 2002-276 du 27 février 2002 relative à la démocratie de proximité, le montant global des contributions des communes et des établissements publics de coopération intercommunale ne pourra excéder le montant global des contributions des communes et des établissements publics de coopération intercommunale de l’exercice précédent, increased by the consumer price index and, where applicable, by the amount of transfer contributions to be paid by the municipalities and public establishments for inter-municipal cooperation requesting the attachment of their fire and rescue centres to the departmental or territorial service.
Within six months of the renewal of the boards of directors provided for in article 126 of law no. 2002-276 of 27 February 2002 precedented, the board of directors of the fire and rescue service organises a debate on the distribution of contributions between the communes and public establishments for inter-communal cooperation in the department.
If no decision is taken under the conditions provided for in the third paragraph, the contribution of each commune and each public establishment for inter-communal cooperation is calculated, under conditions set by decree, according to the size of its population, its per capita tax potential and the share of its contribution in the total contributions of the communes and public establishments for inter-communal cooperation recorded in the last known administrative account.