Kiseliova called for the 2027 budget for Mykolaiv to be prioritised

Olena Kiseliova, a councillor on the Mykolaiv City Council. Photo: NikVesti

Olena Kiseliova, a councillor on the Mykolaiv City Council, has called for work to begin immediately on preparing the city’s budget for 2027 and for a limited list of areas to be identified that Mykolaiv can be certain of funding.

She made these remarks during a city council session on Wednesday, 9 July, according to NikVesti.

According to the councillor, local budget revenues may decline in the coming years, whilst the amount of expenditure that the state places on local authorities will increase.

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«I think the budgets the state gives us will get smaller and smaller. And the burden on the local budget will get heavier and heavier. It is impossible for us to account for the promises that we did not make. Some people make the promises, but it is up to us at the local level to work out how to pay for them. But we have already been through half a year and are now entering the next ten-day period,» said Olena Kiseliova.

She believes that the city authorities should explain to residents which needs the local budget can cover, and jointly identify the priority areas for funding.

«I think we absolutely must start work on next year’s budget, because I didn’t want to believe it, but it seems we’ll have to adopt it after all. That’s why we need to start informing people today — and most importantly, the town’s residents — about what the budget can fund. Because sometimes, when I speak to people, they think the budget should even cover the cost of someone’s kitchen curtains. So both the public and we need to decide how many areas we will definitely fund — 5, 10 or 15 areas,» said Olena Kiseliova.

According to her, when planning the budget, it is necessary to distinguish between desirable expenditure and mandatory expenditure.

«Indeed, there are expenditures we would like to fund, and there are those we must fund, as they are essential in the context of the security situation. Therefore, the 2027 budget must be approached not in terms of revenue, but in terms of what we can and will fund next year. When money becomes scarcer and scarcer, the city and its residents must reach a social contract on what we will pay for. In other words, how many officials we will pay, which areas we will prioritise, and what we will repair: either benches or roads. I believe we need to start addressing these matters right now,» said the councillor.

Budget shortfall

Back in May, at a city council session, it was reported that by the end of 2026 the city would be short of nearly 150 million hryvnias for school meals. Of this, over 109 million hryvnias is needed for nurseries, over 33 million hryvnias for co-funding school meals, and a further 7 million hryvnias for special schools and vocational education institutions.

At the time, city councillors appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada, requesting that additional funding be allocated to Mykolaiv from the state budget.

In June, the Executive Committee of the Mykolaiv City Council reallocated 864,500 hryvnias for meals in nurseries. At the time, the city council noted that these funds would only last until the end of the summer, after which the city council would seek additional funding. There is currently a shortfall of 60 million hryvnias required to finalise the contract for meals in kindergartens.

At the end of June, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine refused Mykolaiv’s request for 150 million hryvnias to organise meals in educational institutions. The ministry explained that these expenditure items for nurseries and vocational education institutions should be funded from the local authority budget, and also highlighted the growth in the city’s budget revenue.

On 1 July, the Government allocated a grant of 187.5 million hryvnias to fund school meals for pupils in the Mykolaiv region between September and November 2026.

Earlier, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych stated that Mykolaiv’s 2026 budget wasa ‘survival budget’ and did not cover all the community’s needs. According to him, the city lacks the funds to implement the state-initiated pay rise for teachers, to pay for utilities, to repair roads and to cover other expenditure.

Back at the start of the year, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych reported that the Ministry of Finance would analyse Mykolaiv’s financial situation to assess the city’s need for additional funding. At the same time, he emphasised that the final decision depends not only on the Ministry of Finance’s calculations, but also on the political will of parliament.