Mykolaiv City Council to consider budget amendments: where the funds will go

Amendments to the 2026 budget of the Mykolaiv City Territorial Community, which allocate unspent funds, have been submitted to the Mykolaiv City Council for approval.

The draft resolution was approved at an extraordinary meeting of the Mykolaiv City Council’s executive committee and at a meeting of the relevant budget committee, NikVesti reports.

According to the draft resolution, it is proposed that the city budget’s revenue for 2026 be approved at 6 billion 649 million hryvnias. Budget expenditure is projected at 6 billion 835 million hryvnias.

At the budget committee meeting, the Director of the Finance Department, Vira Sviatelyk, noted that during the intersessional period, the local authority budget received inter-budgetary transfers:

• 3 million 711 thousand hryvnias — a subvention from the state budget to local budgets for the provision of state support to persons with special educational needs
• 125 million 289 thousand 600 hryvnias — a subvention from the state budget to local budgets for the payment of additional allowances to teaching staff at general secondary education institutions
• 139 million 659 thousand hryvnias — a subvention from the state budget to local budgets for the implementation of the «Housing Renovation for the Empowerment of People (HOPE)» project
• 4,804,700 hryvnias — a grant from the state budget to local budgets to improve the quality of hot meals and fund meals for primary school pupils in general secondary education institutions
• 4 million hryvnias — a subvention from the state budget to local budgets for the implementation of projects under the Ukraine Recovery Programme III
• 1 million 34 thousand hryvnias — a subvention through the transfer of expenditure in the field of education using funds from the education subvention

As a separate item, the committee members considered the volume of public investment for 2026, broken down by specific projects and programmes, amounting to 294 million 838 thousand. The breakdown by sector is as follows:

• Energy — 5 million 300 thousand hryvnias
• Public services and related digitalisation — 10 million hryvnias
• Sport and physical education — 4 million 200 thousand hryvnias
• Social sector — 2,220,000 hryvnias
• Healthcare — 73 million 140 thousand hryvnias
• Education and science — 67.59 million hryvnias
• Transport — 41,750,800 hryvnias
• Municipal infrastructure and services — 85,808,202 hryvnias
• Housing — 2,959,000 hryvnias
• Culture and information — 1 million 870 thousand hryvnias

During the discussion, MP Yevhen Prudnyk noted that funding administrators, such as the capital construction department, have many projects for which funding has already been allocated. According to him, a situation may arise where additional funding will be required due to rising prices.

«Why not consolidate these projects and finish them, rather than starting new ones and leaving them unfinished?» the councillor suggested.

To which Oleksii Savchuk, head of the capital construction department of Mykolaiv City Council, noted that work is generally planned for 39 projects and there are only two new ones on the list.

«Completion is planned for projects funded by subsidies — these are canteens, shelters and repairs in educational establishments. The completion of such small-scale projects in educational establishments is also planned. I think that around 15 projects are scheduled for completion this year,» said Oleksii Savchuk.

In turn, councillor Serhii Kantor proposed that, when allocating funds for public investment, a list of projects should be approved, with deadlines and responsible parties specified. His proposal was put to a vote but was not supported.

In addition, councillors raised questions regarding the repair of the electrical systems in 15 buildings on Zavodska Street.

In this regard, Dmytro Bezdolnyi, Director of the Mykolaiv Department of Housing and Communal Services, explained that the buildings had been connected to the port’s electricity grid, but are now being reconnected and transferred to Mykolaivoblenergo.

«It’s a special situation there; the buildings were connected via the port. Previously, the port simply turned a blind eye to these costs, as they were insignificant. Now they are in a critical situation and the port is not operating. They underwent an audit and were obliged to eliminate these costs, that is, to disconnect the buildings. To do this, we need to carry out certain work, implement small-scale projects and connect them to a different grid. During this winter period, the buildings were almost left without electricity,» he noted.

Also during the meeting, Yelyzaveta Tryshchanovych, a councillor of the Mykolaiv City Council, spoke and proposed supporting her appeal to the mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, regarding the development of sport in the city. In it, she proposed allocating 2.6 million hryvnias to support the Niko-Basket basketball team and 1 million hryvnias to fund the «Mykolaiv Region Boxing Federation».

«This will allow us to prevent athletes from leaving for other cities. It will ensure proper conditions for their development and contribute to further sporting success in Mykolaiv,» she noted.

The appeal was supported by the committee members. They then voted in favour of the budget amendments. The final decision will be taken by the city council at its session on 26 March.

Earlier, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych announced that a list of projects planned to be funded from the 2025 budget surplus — 317 million hryvnias — would be submitted to the budget committee for consideration. He did not specify the exact list, but assured that there were «a great many» projects and that all were ready for consideration.

As is known, the city authorities are currently preparing to reallocate 317 million hryvnias of the surplus funds for 2025.

There is a shortfall in Mykolaiv’s budget. What is known?

The Mykolaiv City Council has appealed to the government and parliament to provide an additional grant from the state budget. According to the city’s calculations, its own budget revenue for 2026 covers only 82.5% of actual needs, and the financial shortfall exceeds 1.14 billion hryvnias.

In total, budget revenue for 2026 amounts to 5 billion 546 million hryvnias, whilst total budget expenditure stands at 5 billion 275 million 353 thousand 815 hryvnias.

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych emphasised that the 2026 budget is effectively a survival budget and does not cover all the community’s needs. In particular, the Mykolaiv budget lacks funds for the pay rise for teachers initiated by the state.

Councillors also appealed to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Cabinet of Ministers, demanding a pay rise for cultural workers. The document highlights the critically low level of pay in the cultural sector.

Instead, the government has raised the basic salary for cultural workers to 3,470 hryvnias. Mykolaiv authorities have said they will look for funds in the budget to pay the supplements.

Apart from paying salaries, the city budget also lacks funds for routine and major road repairs, as stated by Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych. For example, the municipal enterprise ELU Avtodorig has received around 80 million hryvnias less than allocated in the budget.

Meanwhile, during a staff meeting on 2 March, Oleksii Savchuk, Director of the City Council’s Capital Construction Department, reported that there is currently no funding for repairs to the admissions ward of City Hospital №3.

«At present, no funding has been allocated for the admissions department of Hospital №3,» he noted.

Meanwhile, during the staff meeting on 2 March, Hennadii Iziumov, director of the municipal enterprise Mykolaivvodokanal, reported that the enterprise requires additional funds for road resurfacing work following the repair of potholes.

«We have over 560 orders for asphalting that have been pending since 2023. I wanted to discuss with you separately the possibility of additional funding to resolve these outstanding issues,» said Hennadii Iziumov.

Subsequently, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych stated that the Ministry of Finance would spend up to four months reviewing the state of the city budget to justify the need for additional funding from the state budget. The mayor noted that the city authorities had submitted updated revenue and expenditure estimates to the Ministry of Finance. According to him, budget revenues have increased slightly, in particular thanks to tax payments by residents and the mobilisation of extra-budgetary funds. However, this is not enough to cover rising expenditure.