Mykolaiv has invested ₴1.7 billion in utilities over two years: where the money went

Mykolaiv City Council building, archive photo NikVesti

When the city allocates money to municipal enterprises, it is not always about salaries, fuel or street cleaning. Part of the budget funds comes in another way — as contributions to the charter capital. This is money or property that the community transfers to the ME as the owner, actually investing in its development: machinery, equipment, infrastructure.

Unlike subsidies or current expenditures, these funds cannot be spent arbitrarily. They are allocated for specific decisions of the city council and specific needs within the budget year. It is through contributions to the charter capital that the authorities show which municipal enterprises they consider more important and which ones are secondary.

NikVesti found out which MEs have received such contributions in recent years in Mykolaiv, what the amounts were, and who received the most.

What are charter capital contributions and why is it important?

When the city finances municipal enterprises, it does not always look like payment for specific works or services. Part of the budget funds comes in a completely different way — as contributions to the charter capital. It is through this mechanism that the city authorities can allocate significant amounts to individual MEs without tying them to daily expenses.

Contributions to the charter capital are capital expenditures of the budget. They are allocated not «for everything at once», but for specific needs: purchase of machinery, equipment, and updating of the material and technical base. The funds are transferred to the account of the ME, but do not become free — the company can use them only in accordance with the decision of the city council. If contributions are included in the budget for a particular year, they must be spent within the same budget period.

At the same time, this particular financing format is considered less transparent for external control than, for example, budget programmes. Unlike programmes, where the purpose, timing, and expected results are clearly defined, contributions to the charter capital do not always allow for a direct link between the allocated funds and specific expenditures in the company's public reporting.

This fundamentally distinguishes such contributions from other forms of financing. Current expenditures cover the daily operations of the company, subsidies cover the shortfall in funds, and budget programmes have a clear purpose and timeframe. Instead, contributions to the charter capital are an investment by the owner that increases the capacity of the enterprise, not just allows it to «survive until the end of the year».

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It is important that the city council cannot finance municipal enterprises directly — contributions to their charter capital are made through the main spending units. These are the city departments and departments to which MEs are actually subordinated.

Not all municipal enterprises receive such contributions and not every year. They are allocated to ensure the operation of a particular utility company. In wartime, this decision is particularly significant because it demonstrates which functions the city considers to be critical.

Yurii Smetana, director of «Mykolaivelektrotrans», Ole Egberg Mikkelsen, Ambassador of Denmark to Ukraine, and Oleksandr Sienkevych, Mayor of Mykolaiv, against the backdrop of a municipal trolleybus, photo NikVesti

How many contributions to the charter capital have Mykolaiv's MEs received over the past two years?

To outline the overall picture of contributions to charter capital, over the past two years, Mykolaiv's municipal enterprises have received 1.7 billion hryvnias:

• 818 million 630 thousand 579 hryvnias in 2024;
• 906 million 82 thousand 829 hryvnias in 2025.

The city council allocated these funds to the utility companies through the main administrators — the Executive Committee, the Health Department and the Department of Housing and Communal Services. That is, first, these funds were transferred to their accounts, and then to the accounts of the MEs.

Response to the information request NikVesti

Response to the information request NikVesti

Over the years, a total of 11 municipal enterprises have received contributions to the charter capital, operating in various fields, from water supply and transport to landscaping and medical services. In fact, these are enterprises without which the city cannot function on a daily basis. By sector, these are:

Water and heat supply: «Mykolaivvodokanal», «Mykolaivoblteploenergo».

Transport: «Mykolaivelectrotrans», «Mykolaivpastrans».

Utilities «Mykolaivelectrotrans», photo NikVesti

Other types of work are carried out by the following utilities:

• «ELU Avtodorig», which maintains and repairs city roads and streets.
• «Mykolaiv Parks», which is engaged in greening the city.
• Municipal production enterprise for catering in educational institutions.
• Municipal TV channel «MART».
• City hospital №4.
• «DEZ «Pilot», which maintains and repairs playgrounds and water points.
• Housing and communal enterprise «Bryz», which provides housing and communal services and temporary accommodation for IDPs.

Playground on Naberezhna Street in the centre of Mykolaiv, August 2024, photo by NikVesti

Employees of ME «DEZ «Pilot» manufacturing elements of playground structures, August 2024, photo NikVesti

Who received the most funds?

The largest contributions to the authorised capital over the past two years have been received by enterprises dealing with the city's critical needs: water, heating and transport. The top three are:

• «Mykolaivvodokanal» — 919.7 million hryvnias.
• «Mykolaivoblteploenergo» — 346.4 million hryvnias.
• «Mykolaivelectrotrans» — 212 million hryvnias.

Other municipal enterprises — from hospitals to housing and communal services and utility companies — received different amounts of money to their charter capital: from 500,000 hryvnias to 6 million hryvnias annually.

But the mechanism of contributions to the charter capital itself does not answer a simple question: what exactly were the costs behind these amounts and how did the city prioritise between enterprises?

A water utility crew works to repair a water main breakdown along 11a Liniia Street in Mykolaiv, August 2024, photo by NikVesti

«Mykolaiv Parks» received ₴62.3 million in authorised capital this year

The situation is clear for the first three MEs on the list: the money is needed to provide the city with water and heat, repair networks, and compensate for the difference in tariffs. However, the fourth position was taken by a municipal enterprise engaged in landscaping the city — «Mykolaiv Parks»— which in 2025 received 62.3 million hryvnias in contributions to the charter capital from the Mykolaiv budget.

For comparison, in 2025, the city contributed 906.1 million hryvnias to the authorised capital of the MEs, so the share of «Mykolaiv Parks» is about 6.9%.

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Today, «Mykolaiv Parks» is known not only as the city's main greenkeeper, but also as a company that constantly needs money, new equipment and loans. In recent years, the company's staff and vehicle fleet have increased, and funding from the city budget has also grown significantly.

The company's staff has increased 9 times

On the streets of the city, you can increasingly see employees of «Mykolaiv Parks» at work: mowing grass, planting new trees and pruning old ones, cleaning the city streets from fallen leaves. While in 2021 the company employed 39 people, during the full-scale war it increased to 346 people in 2025.

Speaking at one of the latest budget committees to members of the city council, Dmytro Chuchmai, director of the utility «Parks», said he wanted to increase the number of employees by another 43 people in 2026, up to 389.

«Since 1 January 2026, the utility company has been servicing all districts of the city on its own. We do not involve contractors in the maintenance of green areas,» he added.

For the work of the utility company in 2026, «Mykolaiv Parks» is requesting 164.3 million hryvnias from the city budget. Most of it is to be spent on salaries — 103.7 million hryvnias.

But it is too early to say whether these funds will be enough for the municipal enterprise. The director of «Mykolaiv Parks», Dmytro Chuchmai, previously claimed in a comment to NikVesti that they had no debts, no shortage of funds and no problems with these salary payments. A few weeks later, he asked for 15.8 million hryvnias from the city budget to pay salaries until the end of 2025.

Employees of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv parks» at work, photo «NikVesti»

Company equipment and loans

The company has also increased its vehicle fleet. Not only at the expense of the city budget, but also through loans. Even before the full-scale invasion, as of January 2022, the company had only one specialised vehicle, director Dmytro Chuchmai said earlier. Now the number of specialised vehicles is about 60.

When we talked to Dmytro Chuchmai, director of «Mykolaiv Parks», in August 2024, the company had 54 units of equipment. At that time, its cost was 30-35 million hryvnias, he said.

After that, the company also asked the city council to take out a 43 million hryvnias loan for four cleaning machines. The deputies agreed on this loan and «Mykolaiv Parks» already has this equipment in its fleet.

A year later, Dmytro Chuchmai said that this amount of equipment was not enough to cover the entire territory of Mykolaiv and asked for another loan of 45.1 million hryvnias for four additional cleaning machines. This time, however, the deputies did not approve his request.

Equipment of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv parks», photo NikVesti

Equipment of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv parks», photo NikVesti

At one of the last budget committees, deputies expressed the opinion that control over the work of «Mykolaiv parks» should be strengthened. The chairman of the budget committee, Fedir Panchenko, pointed out that the company is currently purchasing expensive equipment. He called on the deputies and the company's management to control financial discipline to avoid situations where, after expensive purchases, additional money is needed to pay for labour and utilities.

«It is not acceptable to buy equipment today and say tomorrow that there is no money for salaries. This is illogical and unacceptable spending. I would ask you to convey this to the management of the company so that there are no situations where they ask for additional funding for labour and utilities after making large purchases. People should not be left without salaries — such cases should not be allowed,» said Fedir Panchenko.

Is there any efficiency?

Given the growth in the number of employees and the increase in the company's vehicle fleet, a logical question arises: has the efficiency of its work increased?

At the beginning of 2025, Dmytro Chuchmai, director of «Mykolaiv Parks», said that this helped improve the work of the ME. He cited the maintenance of green areas on Industrialna Street in Zavodskyi district and on the boulevard part of Tsentralnyi Avenue as examples of effective work.

«The main example is Industrialna Street. When we first came there, there were thickets, wolves were howling, apparently. Today, it is a very nice clean area. So you can see the balance (of financing and performance of the enterprise, — note) for yourself.

Please take a look at the boulevard part of Tsentralnyi Avenue. This is all done by the utility company. The bushes there have been trimmed very nicely. Did they ever look like this?» he said at the time.

Employees of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaiv Parks» at work on Industrialna Street, photo NikVesti

He said that he likes all the green areas maintained by the company's employees. However, one of them is of particular value to him.

«In fact, every corner of the city that our employees put their hands on is great.» But I like the flowerbed in the Young Heroes Park the most,» said Dmytro Chuchmai.

From time to time, the company also finds itself at the centre of high-profile situations. For example, in July last year, workers of «Mykolaiv Parks» were mowing «dust in the centre of Mykolaiv in 40-degree heat». Afterwards, the utility company responded to this publication and explained that the workers were raking leaves and mowing grass, if any.

Dmytro Chuchmai also mentioned planting privet along Tsentralnyi Avenue as one of his plans to green the city. He announced that he planned to plant such bushes along the entire avenue. But this summer it became known that these bushes had dried up.

Dried up Christmas trees in Mykolaiv park «Peremoha», August 2024, photo NikVesti

«Mykolaiv's parks» were also in the spotlight for tree crowns along Soborna Street and planted pine trees in Peremohy Park, all of which have died.

«When selecting and approving planting material, the company's specialists emphasised the quality, maintenance and rules for transporting greenery. But when the trees were planted, it turned out that they had an open root system. A closed root system, i.e. with the root in the ground, is very important for conifers when transplanting. The company's specialists provided comprehensive care for these seedlings, but unfortunately, not all pines took root,» Dmytro Chuchmai explained the situation at the time.

How decisions on contributions to the charter capital are made

Formally, the initiative to make contributions to the charter capital comes from the utility companies themselves or from their respective departments and offices. MEs submit financial requests with a justification of their needs, such as the need to upgrade machinery, equipment or facilities.

These requests then go through several stages:

1. Approval by the relevant departments and offices;
2. Inclusion in the draft budget or amendments to it;
3. Approval by the city council with preliminary consideration by specialised deputy commissions.

However, after the funds are credited as contributions to the charter capital, the level of public disclosure of expenditures is much lower than in budget programmes or procurement. This creates a situation where the community sees the amount of money, but not always its actual use.

Equipment cleaning the streets of Mykolaiv, photo by NikVesti

Contributions to the charter capital are one of the key financial instruments through which Mykolaiv supports its municipal enterprises. Over the past two years, the city has invested 1.7 billion hryvnias in them, focusing primarily on water, heat and transport.

At the same time, the mechanism of such contributions remains unclear to the average citizen: who initiates the funding, what criteria are used to select the companies, and how transparently the use of funds can be traced.

And while the priority of critical infrastructure seems obvious in times of war, the question remains: does the city explain to the community how and why it invests hundreds of millions of hryvnias in the charter capital of its enterprises?

Yuliia Boichenko, NikVesti