Deputies Iliuk and Dombrovska provide them with the draft budget of Mykolaiv for 2026, which has not yet been published

A session of the Mykolaiv City Council. Photo: NikVesti

Deputies of the Mykolaiv City Council say that the draft city budget for 2026 has not yet been made public and provided to the councillors, despite the fact that the city council session is scheduled for 30 December, which, according to them, contradicts the council's regulations.

Deputies Artem Iliuk and Tetiana Dombrovska wrote about this in their social networks, according to NikVesti.

City council member Artem Iliuk said that the draft budget should be preliminarily reviewed by all standing committees of the city council so that the deputies have the opportunity to study the document and decide on their position.

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«On 30 December, the city council will hold a session to consider the next year's budget for Mykolaiv. I believe that the preliminary consideration of the document, which is extremely important for the city, should be held in all city council commissions. This will allow the deputies to study the draft and decide on their position. There are 8 days left, and there is silence all around,» he wrote.

A similar position was expressed by city council member Tetiana Dombrovska, who stressed that there were 7 days left before the session, but the deputies had not received the draft budget, and there were no discussions. She emphasised that the budget is a strategic document that should be considered in advance and not adopted without analysis.

«On 30 December, the city council will hold a session to consider Mykolaiv's budget for the next year. The budget is a strategic document. It is not a tick box. Not a gift under the Christmas tree. Not from the series of «let's vote and then figure it out». Councillors are not statisticians. They have the right to see, read, analyse and only then decide on their position. There are 7 days left before the session. And there is silence all around. No invitations. No discussions. No explanations,» wrote Tetiana Dombrovska.

She appealed to Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych to organise a full-fledged process of publishing and discussing the draft budget, noting that in its absence, the city council could switch to the 1/12th funding regime.

«Dear Oleksandr Senkevych, organise a normal process of publishing and discussing the draft budget, otherwise you will be governing on a 1/12 basis, because there are fewer people willing to vote for your «selfish agenda» every day. Moreover, there used to be a practice of public presentation of budget priorities,» wrote Tetiana Dombrovska.

It should be noted that Article 25 of the Mykolaiv City Council Regulations, which regulates the preparation of draft decisions for consideration at the plenary session, sets clear deadlines for their publication and consideration. In particular, according to paragraph 5 of Article 25 of the Regulations, draft resolutions of the council must be published no later than 10 working days before the date of their consideration at the regular session.

In addition, clause 26 of the same article provides that draft resolutions of the council and other materials scheduled for consideration at the plenary session must be sent by the council apparatus to the deputies no later than 7 days before the date of the session.

Separately, the Regulations stipulate that the council's standing committees should consider draft decisions in accordance with their functional focus, as provided for in Article 25(19) of the Regulations.

Recently, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, promised that departments, offices and utilities would report to the city council before adopting the budget for 2026.