Sienkevych stated that appeals to the government have yielded no results, and there is already a shortfall in the budget for November
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- Alina KvitkoReporter
Oleksandr Sienkevych stated that Mykolaiv will run out of money for salaries and the water utility as early as November. Archive photo NikVestiThe mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, stated that the city’s appeals for additional funding have gone unheeded, even though there will be a shortfall as early as November to support the water utility and pay part of the salaries.
Oleksandr Sienkevych made these remarks during a session of the Mykolaiv City Council on 6 November, according to NikVesti.
According to the mayor, Mykolaiv is short of 819 million hryvnias by the end of the year. The City Council has appealed three times to the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers for financial support.
Oleksandr Sienkevych pointed out that the funding shortfall was already known at the time the 2026 budget was adopted. At that time, he said, the need for additional funding stood at 1.35 billion hryvnias. Thanks to cost-saving measures and the registration in Mykolaiv of taxpayers who work in other cities, this figure has been reduced to 819 million hryvnias. As the mayor noted, Vitalii Kim played a part in attracting these taxpayers.
However, there are still not enough funds to cover all priority needs. In particular, the mayor warned of a shortage of funds to cover additional funding for the water utility and salaries as early as this month.
«In fact, as of today, the figure has fallen from 1.35 billion to 819 million hryvnias. What does this mean? It means that the water utility will still be able to pay for water and electricity, but by November we will have no money to pay for November’s bills or to provide additional funding for the water utility. We have nowhere to get the money from. This means that as early as November, we will not have the funds to pay the wages of some people. And we will have to look for ways to scrape together funds from everywhere,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.
He added that the problem also concerns payments for utilities, electricity and heating. At the same time, appeals to the central government, he said, have so far yielded no results.
Oleksandr Sienkevych explained that he had personally raised the issue of additional funding at a meeting with the Prime Minister, which was also attended by the Minister of Finance.
«No one is responding in any way. You know, I really hope this will be resolved; I bring it up at every meeting. I attended a meeting with the newly appointed Prime Minister. The Minister of Finance was also present at this meeting. I spoke on behalf of the mayors. Some people had questions about delays in payments from the Treasury. I said that we would not have enough money to last until the end of this year. We saw no results from this meeting,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.
The city authorities also approached the acting head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, Heorhii Reshetilov.
«The week before last, we wrote an official letter to the acting head of the regional military administration, Mr Heorhii Reshetilov. He is also looking into this matter and knocking on every door he knows of — both the Office of the President and the officials I mentioned. But, unfortunately, we have not received any replies to date,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.
How Mykolaiv is trying to secure additional funding from the state
The city authorities have been raising the issue of additional funding since the start of the year. In January, Oleksandr Sienkevych spoke of the need to secure around 1.1 billion hryvnias from the state budget.
On 26 February, Oleksandr Sienkevych met with Finance Minister Serhii Marchenko. Following this, the mayor reported that the Ministry of Finance had informed him there was no money available for Mykolaiv. The city submitted its income and expenditure projections, and, according to Oleksandr Sienkevych’s assessment at the time, the assessment of the need for additional funding could take three to four months.
On 6 August, the city council asked the government and parliament to allocate 1.18 billion hryvnias. The funds were needed for salaries, utilities, school meals, subsidised transport, water supply and heating. In the appeal, the funding shortfall was attributed, in particular, to the withholding of military personal income tax, a reduction in the operations of major taxpayers and the relocation of businesses to other regions.
In August, the Cabinet of Ministers responded to this appeal. Deputy Prime Minister Vsevolod Chentsov instructed the Ministry of Finance and other departments to consider the city’s request, report on the results and, if necessary, submit proposals. However, on 1 September, Vitalii Kim stated that the issue of an additional grant had still not been resolved with the Ministry of Finance.
On the same day, councillors increased budget revenue and expenditure by 783.1 million hryvnias. Specifically, 357.66 million hryvnias represented an over-performance of the general fund, whilst 408.4 million came from transfers from the state and regional budgets. Oleksandr Sienkevych explained that the additional tax revenue had been secured thanks to companies that had paid out dividends ahead of schedule and settled the relevant taxes. The funds were intended primarily for salaries, utility bills and a reserve for the winter.
Despite this, on 2 October, the city council once again appealed to the state for assistance. Following a review of expenditure, the required amount was set at 819.1 million hryvnias. Oleksandr Sienkevych described this appeal as a «last cry for help».
The largest portion of the funds — 412.7 million hryvnias — was required for water and heating supplies. A further 138.8 million was needed for salaries and related payments, 106.3 million for utilities and energy, and 96.7 million for passenger transport by electric trams.
At the Budget Committee meeting on 27 October, Fedir Panchenko referred to the government’s response, in which it cited the city budget having exceeded its targets. Vira Sviatelyk, Director of the Finance Department, explained that the figures referred to the situation as at 1 August, and that the additional funds received had already been allocated to urgent needs.
At the same time, the city’s revenue for the first nine months of the year was 66 million гривень below target. Budget managers were asked to review their expenditure, but none of them agreed to forgo the allocated funds. Instead, their stated requirements for November and December amounted to around 800 million hryvnias.
At the same time, the city faced payment delays via the Treasury. According to the city authorities, as of 12 October, invoices totalling over 370 million гривень remained unpaid, including those for completed construction work. There were payment delays even for expenditure for which funds had been allocated.
On 29 October, councillors failed on two attempts to approve Mykolaiv’s budget forecast for 2027–2029. When presenting the document, Vira Sviatelyk warned of a funding shortfall and explained that the city no longer expects a refund of military personal income tax from 2027, although the previous forecast had anticipated the resumption of these revenues.
