Mairies eye Google pool jackpot

With commune budgets severely stretched after government cuts there could be a new push to find owners who have ‘forgotten’ to inform the mairie of any major works.

Cédric Szabo, director of the Association des Maires Ruraux de France, said mayors had avidly read the story on Marmande in Lot-et-Garonne but added they were always looking for ways to improve budgets.
Tax officials in Marmande, which has 18,000 inhabitants and 500 declared pools, used satellite images from Google Maps to find out how many swimming pools there were in the 45km2 commune.
They discovered there were far more than the 500 declared and tracked down the 300 residents who had built a pool without authorisation – and who were not paying the extra taxe foncière due and were paying less in taxe d’habitation.
Deputy finance officer Josette Jacquet revealed the discovery to a council meeting and said afterwards: “It’s huge, we did not expect such a shortfall. It is not fair that some pay, and others do not.”
The €100,000 that was recouped will go to pay for works on communal properties that would otherwise have been delayed.

As the council did not have proof of when the pools were built no retroactive claims were made and owners were only obliged to pay taxes for last year. But other councils will be sure to keep a watchful eye for new blue patches appearing on Google Maps.
Mr Szabo of the AMRF said: “The financial fragility of many communes means they are very interested in making sure they collect what is due.

“But it is not the same to do what has been done in a relatively small commune like Marmande and simply translate that into doing the same in a much larger town.
“Having said that, communes are always interested in situations where no building permit has been granted and where there is a loss of taxe foncière.”

Swimming pools are easier to spot in rural communes but it is a significant effort to find addresses, match them to the building permits and find who was avoiding tax.

It comes down to how much effort the mairie can devote and a small commune does not have the resources of a larger commune – though the larger commune would find it harder to identify tax-dodgers.

An above-ground pool does not need a building permit unless greater than 10m² or higher than 1.80m while an in-ground pool over 10m² but under 100m² requires a déclaration préalable and a pool larger than 100m² or which has a cover higher than 1.80m requires planning permission.