How the COM's operating expenses have changed since 2012
A local government’s expenditures fall into two categories: operating expenses and capital expenditures. As the name implies, capital expenditures include expenses related to projects (primarily the construction or renovation of buildings, infrastructure projects, and the purchase of durable equipment).
The remaining expenditures are classified as operating expenditures. These are recurring expenditures necessary for the operation of the local government’s services. They are divided into three main categories: personnel expenses, general operating expenses, and other expenses.
We analyzed the trend in actual expenditures based on the local government’s management accounts. These figures represent expenditures that have been recorded, rather than amounts that were budgeted or planned.
In 2024 and 2025, the actual operating expenditures of the Collectivité of Saint Martin totaled more than 164 million euros. They have been rising since 2020 and surpassed the 150-million-euro mark for the first time in 2023. They have never been this high.
The main actual operating expenses are personnel costs, followed by “other current administrative expenses” and general expenses. General expenses account for 20% of operating expenses in 2025 and 2024, compared to 15% in 2020 and 13% in 2019. These are the expenses that have increased the most in recent years: +120% between 2020 and 2025, or +18.55 million euros.
Other current operating expenses—which primarily include allocations to schools, COM satellite offices, and grants to associations—account for nearly 29% of actual operating expenses in 2025, almost as much as in 2019. They have increased by 102% over five years, or +23.85 million.
Finally, personnel expenses account for 40% of actual operating expenses and increased by 52% between 2020 and 2025, or +22.25 million euros.
Coming up: trends in personnel expenses, general expenses, and other current operating expenses.
