Paragraph 3: Rural solidarity grant.

The first fraction of the rural solidarity grant is allocated to communes whose population represents at least 15% of the population of the canton, to communes with headquarters of centralising offices, and to communes that were canton chief towns on 1 January 2014;

Not eligible are communes:

1° Located in an urban unit:

a) Representing at least 10% of the department's population or with more than 250,000 inhabitants;

b) Containing a commune either with more than 100,000 inhabitants or as the department's chief town;

2° Situated in a canton whose capital commune has more than 10,000 inhabitants, with the exception of communes with headquarters of centralising offices;

3° Subparagraph repealed;

4° Whose per capita financial potential is greater than twice the average per capita financial potential of communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants.

Also benefiting from this fraction are the arrondissement chief towns as at 31 December 2014, with a population of between 10,000 and 20,000 inhabitants, which do not fall into the cases provided for in 1° and 4° above.

The allocation accruing to each commune is determined according to:

a) The population taken into account up to a limit of 10,000 inhabitants;

b) The difference between the average per capita financial potential of communes with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants and the commune's per capita financial potential;

c) The tax effort taken into account up to a limit of 1.2;

d) A multiplying coefficient equal to 1.3 for communes located in rural regeneration zones as defined in article 1465 A of the General Tax Code.

When a municipality ceases to meet the conditions required to benefit from this fraction of the rural solidarity grant, this municipality receives, as a non-renewable guarantee, an allocation equal to half of that which it received the previous year. By way of derogation, municipalities that ceased to be eligible in 2017 following the capping of their population in application of the last five paragraphs of this article will receive an exit guarantee in 2018 equal to that received in 2017

When a municipality ceases to be eligible in 2012 for this fraction of the rural solidarity grant, it will receive, by way of guarantee, an allocation equal to 90% in 2012,75% in 2013 and 50% in 2014 of the amount received in 2011.

From 2012, the allocation for an eligible commune may be neither less than 90% nor more than 120% of the amount received the previous year.

For the application of this article, the territorial boundaries of the cantons are assessed on 1 January 2014 and the urban units are those defined by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies on 1 January of the year of distribution.

The population taken into account is that defined in Article L. 2334-2:

- capped at 500 inhabitants for municipalities whose population resulting from the last census is less than 100 inhabitants;

- capped at 1,000 inhabitants for municipalities whose population resulting from the last census is between 100 and 499 inhabitants;

- capped at 2,250 inhabitants for municipalities whose population resulting from the last census is between 500 and 1,499 inhabitants.

This ceiling applies only to the population of the commune concerned and is not included in the calculation of per capita financial potential.