«No money to pay salaries», — Panchenko accused the director of the financial department of the mayor's office of poor planning

The chairman of the planning and budgeting commission of the Mykolaiv City Council, Fedir Panchenko, accused the director of the city council's finance department, Vira Sviatelyk, of making mistakes in planning the budget for 2025, which resulted in the city lacking funds to pay salaries to employees at the end of the year.

He said this during a joint meeting of the Standing Committee on Budget and Legislation, according to NikVesti.

As you know, in early November, the main spending units and municipal enterprises of Mykolaiv were instructed to suspend all payments for expenditures that do not relate to protected items, namely public sector salaries and utility bills.

«I will not vote for the budget prepared by Vira Yevhenivna (Sviatelyk, — note) without taking into account our position. Is this clear to everyone? [...] What have we had this year? How did it happen that in the middle and end of the year there was not enough money for salaries? I figured it out: initially, we had too little money budgeted. It was obvious and noticeable right away. I said back in the spring that the actual labour costs exceeded the amounts budgeted, and there would not be enough money,» said Fedir Panchenko.

The discussion of this issue turned into a debate among the deputies:

«This cannot be. If the number of staff is higher than the actual number, it cannot be. So, the problem is different,» argued Serhii Kantor, a deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council.

«You do not understand. Let me give you an example. Bereza comes to me and says: I have 35 people working for me, each of them gets 10 thousand hryvnias a month. This is 350 thousand per month. Multiply it by 12 — that's how much money is needed for salaries. Conventionally, it's 6 million hryvnias a year. And Vera Evgenievna said: «Okay, here's your limit — 4 million. You're free». What happens next?» said Fedir Panchenko.

«Do you understand why she does this?» asked Olena Kiseliova, head of the Mykolaiv City Council's Commission on Legality and Publicity .

«I would like to clarify: this situation is impossible with regard to the administration and executive bodies,» added Oleksandr Bereza, head of the administration of the Central District of Mykolaiv.

«I am saying that Vira Yevhenivna cannot violate this, because it is a criminal offence. Within the established limits, she will in any case pay the salary in accordance with the current legislation,» replied Serhii Kantor.

In turn, Fedir Panchenko added that this year there was not enough money for salaries. According to him, this could be due to overpayments or because the budget initially included less money than was needed.

«I have repeatedly said that if we do not immediately budget for full funding of salaries, utilities and other mandatory payments to avoid repeating the situation of last year, I will not participate in this budget process,» summed up Fedir Panchenko.

All budget payments suspended in Mykolaiv due to lack of funds for salaries and utility bills: what is known

As a reminder, on 19 December 2024, deputies of the Mykolaiv City Council approved the city's budget for 2025. The total budget envisaged revenues of ₴5.414 billion and expenditures of ₴5.285 billion.

At that time, salary expenses for employees of executive bodies and budgetary institutions accounted for 38% of the total budget of Mykolaiv in 2025. The main source of budget revenues is income taxes paid by the residents of Mykolaiv.

In September 2025, Fedir Panchenko, a member of the Mykolaiv City Council and chairman of the planning and budget commission, warned of a shortage of funds in the city's budget for mandatory payments by the end of the year. At the time, he announced a figure of ₴200 million.

He also spoke about this at a meeting of the City Council's budget committee on the same day when considering the decision to reallocate the city's budget. Back then, he said that it was necessary to look for money for protected items for November and December.

Subsequently, in early November, the main spending units and municipal enterprises of Mykolaiv were instructed to suspend all payments for expenditures that did not relate to protected items, namely public sector salaries and utility bills.

At the time, it was reported that the reason for this was the lack of budget funds to cover the protected budget items until the end of the year. The problem had been known for a long time, as the annual budget had not included funds for mandatory payments by the end of the year. The mayor's office hoped that budget overruns and savings during the year would help find the funds. However, this did not happen.

Later, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, said that the city budget was looking for ₴60 million for salaries and utilities.