Mykolaiv city council members heard half a billion in budget amendments and voted almost without discussion

Mykolaiv City Council building, photo by «NikVesti»

City council members have allocated an additional UAH 520 million in 2025 budget expenditures for Mykolaiv.

They made the decision at an online meeting of the Mykolaiv City Council on 24 April, according to «NikVesti ».

According to the comparative table to the draft decision, Mykolaiv's development budget expenditures have been increased from UAH 1.18 billion to UAH 1.70 billion, an increase of UAH 520 million.

Screenshot of the comparative table to the draft decision on amendments to the budget of Mykolaiv for 2025

However, in general, it was proposed to increase Mykolaiv's budget expenditures by a total of UAH 802.8 million, in particular UAH 279.7 million in general fund expenditures and UAH 523 million in development budget expenditures.

- This decision takes into account the mayor's orders on the receipt of subventions received during the intersessional period, the redistribution of funds between the main spending units and the distribution of the free balance," explained Vira Svyatelyk, director of the city council's finance department.

The draft decision states that during the intersessional period, the following subventions were received by the budget of Mykolaiv

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• a subvention from the state budget for the restoration of critical infrastructure facilities under the joint project with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development «Urban Infrastructure Development Project - 2» in the amount of UAH 10.1 million;
• a subvention from the state budget for the construction of shelters in educational institutions, including military (naval, military sports) lyceums and lyceums with enhanced military and physical training in the amount of UAH 31.1 million;
• additional allocations of other subsidies from the local budget in the amount of UAH 34.1 thousand;
• increased the planned amount of subvention from the local budget for the implementation of transferred expenditures in the field of education at the expense of the educational subvention by UAH 1.7 million;
• an additional subvention from the local budget was allocated at the expense of the balance of the educational subvention funds formed at the beginning of the budget period in the amount of UAH 6.8 million;
• an additional subvention from the local budget was allocated to support the activities of specialists in supporting war veterans and demobilised persons and certain measures to support persons who defended the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, at the expense of the relevant subvention from the state budget, in the amount of UAH 3.1 million.

The following changes have been made to the budget allocations of the main spending units:

• Executive Committee of Mykolaiv City Council - increased by a total of UAH 355.2 million. UAH 9.6 million was reallocated within the approved expenditures of the executive committee;
• Department of Education - increased by a total of UAH 50.4 million. UAH 4 million was reallocated within the approved expenditures of the department;
• Healthcare Department - increased by a total of UAH 20.8 million. UAH 7.6 million was redistributed within the approved expenditures of the department;
• the Department of Labour and Social Protection of the Population - increased in the general fund by UAH 25.2 million. UAH 2.5 million was reallocated within the approved expenditures of the general fund of the department;
• Department for Culture and Protection of Cultural Heritage - increased by a total amount of UAH 7 million;
• Department for Physical Culture and Sports - increased by a total of UAH 14.7 million;
• the Department of Housing and Communal Services - increased by a total of UAH 122.3 million. UAH 9 million was reallocated within the approved expenditures of the department;
• Department of Energy - increased by a total of UAH 10 million;
• Capital Construction Department - increased by a total of UAH 148.5 million. UAH 12.2 million was reallocated within the approved departmental expenditures;
• theDepartment for Emergency Situations and Civil Protection of the Population - increased expenditures for the special fund of the budget by UAH 3.7 million;
• Municipal Property Department - increased general fund expenditures in the amount of UAH 94 thousand;
• Department for the provision of administrative services - increased expenditures for the general fund of the budget by UAH 3.3 million;
• Zavodskyi District Administration - increased by a total of UAH 11.9 million. UAH 7 thousand was redistributed within the approved expenditures of the general fund of the administration;
• Korabelnyi district administration - increased by a total of UAH 11.4 million;
• administration of Ingulskyi district - increased in the general fund by UAH 11 million. UAH 1.9 million was redistributed within the approved expenditures of the administration;
• Central District Administration - increased in the general fund by UAH 11 million.

During the session, the chairman of the budget commission, city council member Fedir Panchenko asked whether the proposals of the budget commission had been incorporated into the proposed changes to the budget of Mykolaiv. Vira Svyatelyk clarified that they were not taken into account in the draft decision proposed to the deputies.

After that, Fedir Panchenko read out these proposals by expenditure item for about 10 minutes. In general, they proposed to the deputies

• to reduce the expenditures of the general budgetfund by UAH 30.9 million for some items and increase them by UAH 48.1 million for other items. In general, these include such expenditure items as tourism, housing and communal services, city improvement, road maintenance, water quality improvement, and emergency and disaster response.
• to reduce development budget expenditures by UAH 47 million on some items and increase them by UAH 4.5 million on other items. In general, we are talking about such expenditure items as tourism, housing and communal services, education, medical care, urban development, road maintenance, water quality improvement, and emergency and disaster response.

Fedir Panchenko reads out the proposals of the budget commission to the draft decision on amendments to the budget of Mykolaiv for 2025, screenshot

At the same time, according to the budget commission's recommendation, the deputies were offered to leave UAH 30 million of the free budget balance as of 1 January 2025 unallocated.

Olena Kiselyova, a city council member and head of the council's standing committee on publicity, legality and deputy ethics, was outraged that the deputies had not had the opportunity to study the changes to the 2025 budget of Mykolaiv or the recommendations of the budget commission, as they were read out only at the city council session a few minutes before the vote.

- I don't even know. It was «clear», and now it's «even clearer» what we should vote for. I don't even know how to take it by ear. I would like to see a comparative table of what came from where and where it was going. How to deal with this situation? It's both funny and sinful," said Kiseleva.

Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych noted that under such circumstances, each member of the city council has a choice: to vote for «over», «over» or to abstain from voting.

After that, he put to the vote the draft decision on amendments to the budget of Mykolaiv for 2025, together with the recommendations of the budget commission read out at the session.

» As a result, the deputies approved the budget amendments: 29 deputies voted for «, «voted against», and 2 more abstained.

As a reminder, UAH 50 million was allocated from the city budget to repay the loan of the municipal enterprise «Mykolaivoblteploenergo» to the World Bank.