«Make a deal with the wonderful Panchenko, and he will talk to Sienkevych», Mykolaiv City Hall explained to the deputy how to allocate money to the district

The director of the finance department explained to the deputy how to allocate money to the district. Screenshot from the broadcast of Mykolaiv City Council

Andrii Yantar, a member of Mykolaiv City Council, asked the budget committee to explain the possibilities of using budget funds for the needs of specific constituencies.

This issue was discussed during an online meeting on 26 September, according to NikVesti.

Andrii Yantar raised the issue of uneven funding of districts and asked for a mechanism to solve the problem. He cited an example from his constituency, when he was approached by citizens with a request to fix up a playground outside one of the houses in the Inhulskyi district.

«When MPs meet with their constituents, they ask them specific questions. And some people solve these issues faster, while others cannot. Therefore, if the money was allocated specifically to MPs to solve problems in the district... Could this issue be resolved within the budget?» said Andrii Yantar.

In response, Vira Sviatelyk, director of the city council's finance department, stressed that a solution should be sought jointly with the head of the budget commission, Fedir Panchenko, and the mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych.

«You have a wonderful chairman of the commission, Fedir Panchenko. If you reach an agreement with him and he talks to the mayor about resolving this issue, I think we can jointly decide how to either regulate this or raise the issue of deputy funds again. There is an opportunity to talk now, because it will be really... There is no such thing as deputy funds, because all budget funds are distributed by the deputies of the Mykolaiv City Council,» said Vira Sviatelyk.

In his turn, the chairman of the commission, Fedir Panchenko, confirmed his readiness to support initiatives from deputies if they voice something.

«Andrii, it seems that we have a normal relationship in our team here and we usually support all the issues you raise. Please, make suggestions, whatever you need, and we will do our best,» said Fedir Panchenko.

During the discussion, the deputies also asked why they were not returning to the issue of a detailed analysis of the budget, as they did in 2021. To this, Fedir Panchenko reminded that it was then that his proposal to hold such detailed discussions was rejected by the Commission by a majority vote.

As reported earlier, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said he would seek a compromise for further dialogue with the deputy corps to «unblock» the work of the sessions of the Mykolaiv City Council.