Subsection 3: Expenditure

The metropolitan authority depreciates its fixed assets, including those made available or assigned:

1° Intangible;

2° Tangible, with the exception of road networks and installations for which depreciation is optional.

This depreciation does not apply to fixed assets owned by the metropolis that are handed over on assignment or at disposal, nor to land and land improvements except for deposit land, nor to collections and works of art, nor to study and insertion costs followed by completion.

The depreciation allowances for these assets are liquidated on the basis of the historical cost of the fixed asset and the straight-line method. However, the metropolitan authority may adopt a declining balance, variable or real depreciation method.

The depreciation periods for tangible fixed assets are set for each asset or each category of asset by the deliberative assembly, which may refer to a scale set by order of the minister responsible for local authorities and the minister responsible for the budget, with the exception, however:

- of costs relating to town planning documents referred to in the article L. 121-7 du code de l'urbanisme which are amortised over a maximum period of ten years;

- study costs and insertion costs not followed by completion which must be amortised over a maximum period of five years;

- research and development costs amortised over a maximum period of five years in the event of the project's success and immediately, in their entirety, in the event of failure ;

- patents amortised over the shorter of the duration of the privilege from which they benefit or the actual duration of their use;

- capital grants paid, which are amortised over a maximum period of either five years when the grant finances movable property, equipment or studies, or thirty years when it finances real estate or installations, or forty years when it finances infrastructure projects of national interest. Investment aid for companies that do not fall into any of these categories is depreciated over a maximum period of five years.

A depreciation plan that has been started must be continued to its end, unless the asset is sold, assigned, made available, reformed or destroyed. The depreciation schedule may only be modified in the event of a significant change in the conditions of use of the asset. The beneficiary of the transfer or assignment continues to depreciate the asset according to the initial depreciation schedule or in accordance with its own rules, defined by this article.

The Metropolitan Council may set a unit threshold below which fixed assets of little value or which are consumed very quickly are depreciated over one year. The corresponding deliberation is forwarded to the accounting officer and may not be modified during the same financial year.

The deliberative assembly may instruct the authorising officer to determine the depreciation period for an asset within the minimum and maximum periods that it has set for the category to which the asset belongs.