During the municipal council meeting on Friday June 5, the RN mayor of Bagnols-sur-Cèze, Pascale Bordes, confirmed the reduction in subsidies to associations, the cancellation of shows planned at the Pyramid next season and renounced the acquisition of the cinema walls.
With five points on the agenda, including the designation of substitute delegates for the next senatorial elections, the Bagnols-sur-Cèze municipal council meeting on Friday June 5 could have been quickly cut short. This was without counting the opposition elected officials who, at the end of the session, questioned the mayor RN Pascale Bordes and her team on several points. And it is in particular the cultural policy of the City which was at the heart of the debates.
Second deputy in charge of health and solidarity during the last mandate of Jean-Yves Chapelet, Michèle Fond-Thurial returned to “rumors circulating that need to be dispelled or confirmed.” Namely, among other things, if the City had renounced the agreement with the cinema.
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“The announced death of cinema”
Indeed, last December, upon the arrival of the buyers of the Casino, the City of Bagnols-sur-Cèze decided to buy back the walls of the establishment from the owners Mathieu and Anne-Marie Duffès, through the intermediary of the public land establishment (EPF). A file which the new RN municipality indicates to have “took notice”. “We inherit a financial situation that is deteriorating day by day,” first launched Pascale Bordes, as she repeated over and over again throughout the municipal council.
Subsidies halved
At the opening of the opposition’s questions, Michèle Fond-Thurial questioned Mayor Pascale Bordes on subsidies to Bagnolese associations. “You announced at a previous municipal council a reduction in subsidies and we would like to know what the distribution methods will be, if you have selection criteria and especially when will the associations know the subsidies allocated. We are already in June, we have to prepare for the start of the school year in September”she asked. After recalling that the new team had inherited “a more than worrying situation” and that it was only in place “for two months”Pascale Bordes indicated that the matter would be debated at the next municipal council, on June 25. “Last year, €953,000 had been distributed and this year the budget provides for €496,000 in subsidy. We will not vary from this sum, it is dispatching which we are going to debate. generosity at a price: Bagnols no longer has the means to spend a million euros on associations”indicated the mayor. “We are not against savingsreplied Michèle Fond-Thurial, we had been contacted by many associations who needed to have readability.”
“What would be the advantage for the largely indebted city of acquiring this building for 800,000 euros when it is not up to standard, when it would be necessary to invest between 500,000 and 600,000 euros to renovate it and the buyer has willingness to migrate to a larger complex?”asked the first magistrate. Hence the decision of the City, which says it prefers to invest in the energy renovation of schools, “not carry out this project, in the interest of the people of Bagnolais”. “I therefore understand that it is the chronicle of the announced death of cinema”, reacted Michèle Fond-Thurial. Who also questioned the RN team about a possible reduction in the Pyramid programming for the next season.
Nine fewer shows at the Pyramide
After ensuring that “the group I belong to does not attack culture”, Pascale Bordes confirmed that, again for financial reasons, nine planned but unsigned shows would not be on view for the 2026-2027 season. “Their cost is €172,000, which is difficult for the municipality to bear. Furthermore, these shows would have brought in at best €116,000 for the community, which therefore makes a deficit of €56,000”detailed Mayor RN. Who also used this demonstration for the Ben Mazué concert scheduled for July 10 as part of the Nuits du Mont Cotton. “We hope the room will be full”launched Pascale Bordes.
