The NEFCO grant, budget amendments, road repairs: what the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council session was like after a six-month break
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- Julia LukyanenkoReporter
The 69th session of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council. Photo: YuzhkaNews.CityOn 3 July, the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council convened for its 69th session. This was the first meeting following a series of postponements lasting almost half a year. Councillors considered several sets of issues, including the adoption of budget amendments, the allocation of funds for residents’ medical treatment, road repairs, the reorganisation of the grammar school, and approval to secure a €5.2 million grant from Denmark via NEFCO.
NikVesti will report on how the meeting unfolded and what key decisions the councillors took.
Over 200 items on the agenda
The session took place following a presentation by Ivan Kukhta, head of the city’s military administration. Twenty-seven city councillors attended the meeting. The session, held in a hybrid format — in person and via video link — lasted four hours. For nearly two of those hours, following the recommendations of the committees, councillors added further items to the agenda and decided how they would be considered. An agenda comprising 205 items was eventually approved.
The 69th session of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council. Photo: City Council
The 69th session of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council. Photo: City CouncilSeveral items were removed from the agenda. In particular, the item concerning the early termination of the powers of the City Council Secretary, Denys Kravchenko. Only seven councillors voted in favour of including this item for consideration at the session.
The issue concerning the structure and staffing levels of the executive bodies, the administrative apparatus and the executive committee of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council was also removed.
The Pivdennoukrainsk City Council convened for a session after a break of almost half a year. Photo: Mykolaiv Regional State AdministrationRegarding the issues concerning the termination of the mandates of councillors Anzhela Savastru and Serhii Snitkov, councillor Olena Petryna suggested asking whether they still wished to resign their seats. Mayor Valerii Onufrienko said he would demonstratively ring them up.
New councillor
Representatives of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Territorial Electoral Commission announced that, by a resolution dated 25 February, Vladyslav Batsman, a city councillor elected from the single electoral list of the «Batkivshchyna» All-Ukrainian Union, had been registered. The councillor took the oath of office during the session.
Funds for residents’ medical treatment
The City Council amended the Regulations on the City Council Fund for the exercise of councillors’ powers for the period 2026–2030. The regulations previously stipulated that financial assistance could be provided to a single person in an amount not exceeding 50,000 hryvnias. Councillors have now proposed increasing this amount to 100,000 hryvnias for cancer patients and military personnel.
However, councillors also pointed out that there is no oversight of how these funds are allocated. Specifically, in the case of military personnel and cancer patients, this can be monitored. It was also noted that if people use the allocated funds for something other than treatment, this constitutes fraud, which carries the risk of criminal liability.
A proposal to allocate up to 100,000 hryvnias, but without restrictions by category, was put to the vote. The decision was passed by 27 votes.
69th session of the South Ukrainian City Council. Screenshot from the broadcastCouncillors also considered the allocation of funds from the city council’s budget to support the village head’s duties.
Tetyana Goncharova, head of the finance department, noted that, based on the budget committee’s findings, it was proposed to consider 15 recommendations on the allocation of funds totalling 1.32 million hryvnias. Of this, 1.13 million hryvnias is for the housing and utilities sector and 197,500 hryvnias for culture.
Taking into account the councillors’ earlier decision to increase the amount of financial assistance, five people will receive additional financial assistance in excess of 50,000 hryvnias.
— 142 recommendations have been included in the draft resolution, totalling 1.9 million hryvnias. Twenty-three people will receive financial assistance totalling 905,700 hryvnias — this comprises 81 recommendations, the largest number in the entire draft resolution. In the education sector, there are 31 recommendations totalling 328,500 hryvnias. In the health sector, there are seven recommendations totalling 208,900 hryvnias. There is one recommendation in the culture sector totalling 25,000 hryvnias. There are 17 recommendations in the physical education and sport sector totalling 335,900 hryvnias. There were four recommendations for the housing and communal services sector, totalling 90,000 hryvnias, and one recommendation for the education administration sector, totalling 7,800 hryvnias. This relates to the Department of Pre-school, Secondary and Extracurricular Education within the Education Administration, — noted Tetiana Goncharova.
Councillors supported the proposed draft resolution.
Amendments to the budget
Councillors approved funds from the unallocated reserve — 42.5 million hryvnias. 23 million hryvnias were allocated to the local authority’s budget from the surplus funds.
In the security sector, they voted to allocate subsidies from the state budget: 500,000 hryvnias to the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Kherson region for the purchase of electronic warfare equipment, and 400,000 hryvnias for fuel for local police officers until the end of the year, 1 million hryvnias for the Main Directorate of the National Police to support a rifle battalion currently on the front line, for the repair of special-purpose vehicles and armoured vehicles.
Councillors also approved a 2 million hryvnias subvention from the state budget for the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Directorate in Mykolaiv region to improve its material and technical resources. The deputies noted that this money could have been given to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, it was pointed out that everyone sees the results of the Security Service’s operations in the news.
In addition, a grant of 37.1 million hryvnias from the state budget was allocated to 35 military units.
The 69th session of the Pivdennoukrainsk City Council. Photo: YuzhkaNews.CityIn the section on internally displaced persons (IDPs), the allocation of 77,1 thousand hryvnias was approved for the fitting out of 10 modular homes on Kvitkovyi Boulevard. Equipment is to be installed there for automatic power switchover during power cuts and for connection to an internet service provider.
A further 3 million hryvnias has been allocated for landscaping around the modular homes on Soborna Square in Kostiantynivka. Plans include installing fencing, steps, handrails, a children’s play area and a sports ground, benches, litter bins and clothes drying racks, as well as delivering soil, installing kerbs, fitting a septic tank, laying tiles and refurbishing the façade. The purchase of six televisions for 39,000 hryvnias has been removed from the list.
The councillor noted that these houses are intended to house medical staff who are internally displaced persons. But are there really people planning to live there? According to her, if no doctors can be found, the houses could be made available to other people in turn. According to Mayor Valerii Onufriienko, there are people willing to move in.
A modular house for medical staff who are IDPs. Photo: Pivdennoukrainsk City CouncilRoad repairs
As it emerged during the session, road repairs became a contentious issue at the budget committee meeting. Councillors were presented with four options for allocating 15 million hryvnias.
The budget committee proposed allocating 500,000 hryvnias each for repairs using the pneumatic jet method in the villages of Kostiantynivka, Ivanivka and Pankratove. A further 132,000 hryvnias were proposed to be allocated to repairing the road along the school bus route in the village of Kostiantynivka.
A further 5.3 million hryvnias were to be set aside for patching potholes in Pivdennoukrainsk.
«Repairing all the roads with hot asphalt requires a huge amount of money, as you can imagine. And just resurfacing Nezalezhnosti Avenue entirely with hot asphalt would cost over 29 million. So it’s up to you — what do you say?» remarked Tetiana Honcharova.
There was also a proposal to split the funding for roads between the villages and the town. In the end, the councillors agreed to combine the sum for repairs in Kostiantynivka, Pankratove and Ivanivka — almost 1.7 million hryvnias. 7.9 million hryvnias are to be allocated for the repair of Nezalezhnosti Avenue using hot-mix asphalt, whilst 5.3 million hryvnias will be allocated to all other roads — Myru, Sobornosti, Molodizhna, Sportyvna, Enerhobudivnykiv, Olimpiiska, Svobody, Parkova and Naberezhna Enerhetykiv. These are to be repaired using the pneumatic jet method.
The question of whether to allocate funds for Buzke was also raised. It was suggested that there was no point in carrying out patch repairs there. Last year, the 10 million allocated for roads in the village was not used and was returned to the budget. Therefore, it was decided to add the village of Buzke to the list, along with the roads in Pivdennoukrainsk.
Preparations for the heating season
Councillors agreed to allocate 13 million hryvnias for preparations for the heating season. The funds will be allocated for the purchase of pipes, various fittings, pumps and other components. As explained, this will all go towards routine repairs to heating systems and as a reserve in case of emergencies.
Repair works in Pivdennoukrainsk. Photo: Executive Committee of Pivdennoukrainsk City CouncilList of jurors
Councillors approved a list of five jurors. The court was unable to hear certain cases because the terms of the previous jurors had expired. It was also announced that a total of 20 jurors are required.
Agreement with NEFCO
Councillors agreed to secure a grant from Denmark via the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) to fund the project to reconstruct the drainage system in Pivdennoukrainsk. The project involves the reconstruction of the KNS-2 and KNS-3 sewage pumping stations, as well as the pressure sewer main.
The total cost of the project is 5.8 million euros: 5.25 million comes from a grant from Denmark via NEFCO. Pivdennoukrainsk is to contribute at least 585,000 euros.
The draft resolution proposed authorising the mayor to sign the grant agreement and other documents necessary to receive the grant funding. However, the mayor proposed an amendment to authorise not only himself, but also the city council secretary and the first deputy mayor, Mykola Pokrov, in the event of sick leave or other circumstances. The latter had already attended a conference in Poland, where Pivdennoukrainsk was granted additional time to vote on accepting the grant.
The councillors supported the grant application by 24 votes.
The 69th session of the South Ukrainian City Council. Photo: YuzhkaNews.CityReorganisation of the Ivanivka Gymnasium
The Ivanivka Gymnasium has been reorganised into a primary school. Yurii Sinchuk, Head of the Education Department, explained that the issue regarding the Ivanivka Gymnasium has been under consideration for several years. He noted that there are currently only 25 pupils at the gymnasium.
«You will all recall that our dealings with this institution have been ongoing for more than two years. We had decided to fund the school entirely from the city budget, but, unfortunately, our school has fallen into a category where it can no longer be funded by state subsidies or education subsidies,» said Yurii Sinchuk.
According to him, public consultations were held. There were no comments or objections regarding the renaming or downgrading of the school’s status.
«Once we have taken this decision, we will have the legal right to announce new public consultations and, in a year’s time, raise the issue of closing the school, as there are now only six children left in the primary school, added the head of the education department.
Councillors also noted that the premises will become vacant, so consideration must be given to what to do with them next year.
Privatisation
Councillors adopted around 80 decisions on the privatisation of flats and rooms in halls of residence. The proposals were hardly discussed at all; they simply read out the information regarding approval by the relevant committee. One applicant was refused as the necessary documents had not been agreed upon.
After that, there was no longer a quorum to consider land and other issues. It was decided to reconvene for the next meeting on 7 July.
Read also the article by NikVesti that preceded the establishment of the military administration in Pivdennoukrainsk: «Conflicts, disrupted sessions and a grant under threat: how Pivdennoukrainsk found itself on the brink of a military administration being set up».
This publication was produced within the framework of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) project “Strengthening Public Oversight,” with financial support from Norway. The content of this publication is the sole responsibility of the NGO “Mykolaiv Media Hub” and the online media outlet “NikVesti.” This material can in no way be considered as reflecting the views of IWPR or the Government of Norway.
