The Voznesensk City Council is to write to the Ministry of Social Policy regarding problems with the calculation of utility bill concessions

The Voznesensk City Council building. Photo: NikVesti

The Voznesensk City Council plans to appeal to the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity of Ukraine, requesting that the Pension Fund be given the technical capability to calculate benefits and subsidies for a single utility service provided by several companies within the same local authority area.

The draft resolution was published on the city council’s website on 9 September. It is due to be considered at a council meeting.

The issue concerns centralised wastewater collection. In the Voznesensk community, this service is provided by two companies — the municipal enterprise «Voznesensk Water Supply» and the limited liability company «Biological Treatment Plants». Some residents pay for the service to both providers simultaneously.

However, as the authors of the petition point out, the Pension Fund of Ukraine currently lacks the technical capability to award benefits and subsidies for the same utility service if it is provided by different companies within the same community.

As a result, residents are not granted benefits or subsidies for centralised wastewater disposal provided by the municipal enterprise «Voznesensk Water Supply».

The city council emphasises that state benefits are granted for the utility service itself, rather than for the specific company providing it. Therefore, in the opinion of the authors of the appeal, technical limitations in the software should not deprive people of their right to social support.

In this regard, the city council will ask the relevant ministry to amend the Pension Fund’s software so that it can calculate benefits and subsidies for a single utility service, even if it is provided by several different providers.

The explanatory note states that, once this issue has been resolved, residents of the Voznesensk community will be able to receive the benefits and subsidies provided by the state towards their water disposal bills.

The city council’s draft appeal

It should be recalled that the avenue of ancient oak trees in Voznesensk, planted as far back as 1826, may be placed under protection by granting it conservation status. Meanwhile, construction work continues there. The regional council members are therefore proposing to contact the police to investigate whether the allocation of land near the avenue was lawful.

Previously, state inspectors recorded damage to a mature oak tree with a diameter of 170 centimetres in Voznesensk. Branches had been cut from the tree, and construction waste had been piled up nearby. Reports of administrative offences were drawn up in respect of these violations.