La Chaux-du-Milieu wants fewer schoolchildren due to high costs
Published: Wednesday, Jul 17th 2024, 09:10
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La Chaux-du-Milieu, an idyllic village in the Neuchâtel mountains, is full of children and has a very dynamic community life. A situation that invites you to dream, and yet: the municipality is suffocating under the burden of school fees and is slowing down the influx of families.
"Everything is great in La Chaux-du-Milieu. I have lots of friends in the village, there are lots of activities and a ski camp every year," enthuses 10-year-old Hanaé, who moved here with her parents, her sister Ilena (8) and her brother Evan (5) in December 2021.
Parents Damien and Laurie agree: "Life is easy for the children, the village is very dynamic with many sports and cultural clubs and relatively easy to reach by post bus". The village also has a food cooperative.
Her father came from the Vallée de La Brévine and wanted to be closer to his friends and family. After a boules tournament in the village, Laurie declared that she could imagine living here. Shortly afterwards, the decision was made to leave Renan BE and buy a house in the new construction zone. "The price for the land and the building was also affordable," adds Damien.
The youngest municipality in the canton
"It's super nice for the children to live here, but the downside is that it puts a strain on the wallet," adds the father. Last year, 98.46 percent of tax revenue from natural persons had to be allocated to schools. The municipality closed its annual accounts with a deficit of over 130,000 francs.
In La Chaux-du-Milieu, there are 113 children out of a total population of 500. The village has the youngest population in the canton.
"The school fees cost us between 8,000 and 13,000 francs per pupil. If we had ten to twelve fewer, we would practically be making a profit," says municipal president Philippe Raval to the Keystone-SDA news agency.
At the start of the new school year, the commune will have 20 pupils in Cycle 1, 34 pupils in Cycle 2 in La Brévine and 25 pupils in Cycle 3 in Le Locle.
"The burden of school fees is so high that we can hardly invest in renovating our buildings. We also have very little tax revenue from legal entities, as we have no small industry or trades," explains Raval. "We have to hold together until 2028/29 if the school fees are to fall again."
The municipality has developed a strategy to achieve this: to slow down the influx of families. In the apartments that it owns and rents out, it gives preference to couples without children or with children who have not yet started school.
Another factor is that the construction of villas will be completed by 2030, apart from one new build already planned. The influx of families is therefore likely to decline. Once the population has settled, "there is very little movement," says the mayor.
Victims of their own success
The municipality only had 424 inhabitants in 1992. But the opening of two building zones attracted families looking for single-family homes. "We had to deviate from the neighborhood plan because the yield was not sufficient to attract promoters interested in constructing high-density buildings," explains Raval.
He points out that the youth of the village also brings an incredible dynamism to local society. La Chaux-du-Milieu is known far beyond the country's borders, especially for the Corbak Festival, which will take place for the 28th time in May.
The mayor is aware that the number of pupils must not fall too much if the school is not to be closed. "We are at the limit in terms of the number of children for cycle 1, but there will still be pupils from La Brévine," he says.
Raval believes that merging with other municipalities such as La Brévine or Le Cerneux-Péquignot could be a solution. So far, a merger with the latter village has been rejected in principle. "But a rapprochement would make it possible to be more efficient, help each other and cushion changes. La Brévine could find itself in our situation in a few years' time," says Raval.
©Keystone/SDA
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