The Pervomaisk Department of Education has reported a shortfall of ₴7.6 million for teachers’ salaries

Svitlana Tkachuk, head of the Pervomaisk City Council’s Education Department. Photo: Gard.City

The Pervomaisk City Council’s Education Department may be short of ₴7.6 million to pay staff salaries by the end of the year. The head of the department, Svitlana Tkachuk, stated that 10 million hryvnias had previously been reallocated from their budget, and that they now plan to take a further 2.6 million for the needs of other departments.

She made these remarks during a session of the Pervomaisk City Council on 29 October, where councillors were considering the issue of a further reallocation of budget funds, according to NikVesti.

According to Svitlana Tkachuk, following the previous reallocation, the Education Department had intended to use the savings, in particular, to pay bonuses to cooks and staff at out-of-school educational institutions. At the same time, a proposal was tabled at the current session to reallocate a further 2,672,000 гривень from the department’s budget to meet the needs of other structural units of the city council.

Tkachuk emphasised that the department is currently short of 7,676,000 гривень for salaries. She also requested that 1.9 million гривень be reallocated to cover electricity costs.

«They justify this shortfall of 7 million hryvnias for salaries by claiming there will be savings during the heating season. But these are all fictitious figures. Who will be held accountable if salaries are not paid?» said the head of the department.

She also explained that, from 1 September, all educational establishments began providing meals for children, which has led to an increase in electricity consumption. According to her, electricity costs rose by 30 per cent in September alone, and could be even higher in October.

The city council’s finance department did not agree with the arguments put forward by the head of the education department.

Serhii Kushuhurov stated that the data provided by the department did not fully reflect the situation regarding the funding of educational institutions. According to his calculations, schools have a reserve to cover a 32 per cent increase in electricity costs, whilst pre-school institutions have a reserve for a 15 per cent increase.

He also noted that there should be sufficient funds for salaries in nurseries, whilst attributing the funding problems in schools and extracurricular institutions to the Education Department’s inadequate monitoring of whether spending limits align with actual cost increases.

«I consider this inappropriate and premature. There will be sufficient funds for salaries in pre-school institutions. As for schools and out-of-school programmes, there are concerns that the education authority’s management is not monitoring whether spending limits align with the growth in costs and payments,» he said.

During the discussion, councillors also asked whether there were plans to return the 10 million hryvnias previously reallocated to the education department.

In response, Kushuhurov stated that one way to reduce costs could be for institutions to switch to pellet heating. According to him, the mayor had instructed officials to explore this option, which should be at least one and a half times cheaper than electric heating.

«The mayor has given a clear instruction to switch to pellet heating. We have calculated that, compared to electricity, this will reduce costs by at least 1.5 times. The savings achieved will resolve this issue,» he explained.

Following the vote, councillors did not support the proposed budget reallocation plan.

It should be recalled that in June, in Pervomaisk, an additional 1.5 million hryvnias was reallocated from the education department to settle the debts of the municipal enterprise «Zhytlo».

On 5 May, the city council had already allocated 3.3 million hryvnias from the education department’s budget to repay the debts of the «Zhytlo» municipal enterprise and to prepare for the upcoming heating season. However, these funds proved insufficient, so councillors approved a further reallocation of 1.5 million hryvnias.