Without cobblestones and cars for the city council: deputies adopted the budget of Mykolaiv for 2024

On Saturday, December 23, deputies of the Mykolaiv City Council approved the city's budget for 2024.

The corresponding decision was made at the meeting of the next session, NikVesti reports.

The revenues of the budget of Mykolaiv are determined in the amount of 4 billion 894 million 105 thousand hryvnias, the expenses of the budget will amount to 4 billion 928 million 349 thousand hryvnias. The reserve fund was planned in the amount of 50 million hryvnias.

The director of the finance department of the Mykolaiv city council, Vira Sviatelyk, said that the city has already received a subsidy in the amount of 419 million hryvnias to compensate for the negative consequences of the war. This money is distributed during the first half of the year.

«We will lose about 2 billion 200 million hryvnias from the state budget next year. We received a subsidy in the amount of 419 million hryvnias to compensate for the negative consequences of the war. There is good news that this money is distributed over 1 half year. There is hope that perhaps in the second half of the year there will be more funds related to the consequences of the influence of military actions. These funds have already been allocated in the draft decision on adopting the budget,» she said.

In addition, the budget does not provide funds for financing paving works around the city.

«I would like to ask a question that is of interest to many Mykolaiv residents, how much money have you provided in the budget for laying paving stones in Mykolaiv,» asked the mayor of Mykolaiv Oleksandr Sienkevych.

«For next year, we do not plan to build new facilities for sidewalks or paths with paving stones. We see social trends and such a general direction that this is on time and everything for the needs of the military and the needs of the Armed Forces, and we have planned design, but we will not carry out any work,» replied the director of the housing and communal services department Dmytro Bezdolnyi.

The deputies of the city council, Fedir Panchenko and Olena Kiseliova, noted that the funds spent on the development of project and estimate documentation should be directed to the closure of current issues.

«We need to put the project on hold if it cannot be covered by the current costs of this year and the future, if there are no other sources of income,» said Olena Kiseliova.

Mykolayiv City Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych, answering the questions of the deputies, whether the allocation of funds for the needs of the Armed Forces is planned in the city budget for 2024, stated that the city has already sent 2.7 billion hryvnias to the military:

«About 2.7 billion hryvnias went to the Armed Forces from the Mykolaiv budget. I would like to say that we have a survival budget today. Already today, we sent about 700 million hryvnias, we took it out of the budget, when the funds go to the account of our treasury, they go to the account of the Armed Forces. We have a budget of 4.9 billion hryvnias — this includes compensatory institutions that were given to us instead of the personal income tax that was taken away, so I can say that the funds taken from us make up 46% of our budget.»

In particular, the mayor of Mykolaiv said that the situation with the budget next year will be very difficult for the city. The authorities are already reviewing the number of personnel and the possibility of cutting salaries.

«I'm afraid that everything will be very bad for us, that we will go around with outstretched hands and beg to pay for utilities, salaries of social workers, and so on. This is a very difficult question. We will look for an opportunity to help our military units, including with extrabudgetary funds. Our funding has decreased, the volume of work has decreased, and we are already reviewing the number of personnel who will work for us today. We are already reducing expenses for lighting and heating. We will cut salaries, utility bills, that is, cut everything,» Oleksandr Sienkevych said.

As you know, the development budget of Mykolaiv, which is aimed at the implementation of city projects in various areas, will amount to about 347 million hryvnias in 2024:

— executive committee — 836 million 905 thousand 640 hryvnias;

— Department of Education — 1 billion 779 million 416 thousand 669 hryvnias;

— health care management — 171 million 320 thousand 605 hryvnias;

— department of labor and social protection — 183 million 926 thousand 283 hryvnias;

— Department of Culture and Cultural Heritage Protection — 163 million 419 thousand 346 hryvnias;

— administration of physical culture and sports — 131 million 357 thousand 431 hryvnias;

— housing and communal services department — 1 billion 95 million 807 thousand 300 hryvnias;

— Department of Energy — 60 million 134 thousand 400 hryvnias;

— capital construction management — 191 million 199 thousand 500 hryvnias;

— department of architecture and urban planning — 15 million 317 thousand 100 hryvnias;

— DABC management — 8 million 416 thousand 200 hryvnias;

— management of emergency situations — 89 million 770 thousand 952 hryvnias;

— management of communal property — 7 million 557 thousand 100 hryvnias;

— department for providing administrative services — 32 million 25 thousand 500 hryvnias;

— management of land resources — 12 million 467 thousand 200 hryvnias;

— finance department — 77 million 329 thousand 382 hryvnias;

— department of internal financial control, supervision and anti-corruption — 13 million 420 thousand 633 hryvnias;

— administration of Zavodsky district — 57 million 503 thousand 400 hryvnias;

— administration of Korabelny district — 55 million 794 thousand 66 hryvnias;

— administration of Ingul district — 59 million 398 thousand 820 hryvnias;

— administration of the Central district — 60 million 471 thousand 504 hryvnias.

The draft budget of the city of Mykolaiv for 2024 was supported by 34 deputies.

As you know, within the framework of the law «On the state budget for 2024», the Cabinet of Ministers plans to direct all revenues from the personal income tax of military personnel, 64% of which currently remain in local budgets, to the state budget. The Association of Cities of Ukraine believes that these funds will most likely be dissolved in the state budget, as well as 36% of the current personal income tax, which is administered by the Ministry of Finance. We are talking about 25.8 billion hryvnias this year and 93.7 billion hryvnias next year, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal specified the day before.

The budget of Mykolaiv will thus lose 2.7 billion hryvnias, the mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said. This year, the city's budget will lack about 740 million hryvnias.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine can allocate over 517 million hryvnias to the communities of the Mykolaiv region to compensate for the loss of personal income tax from military income.