Mykolaivvodokanal needs ₴750 million to supply Mykolaiv with water in 2026

A water utility crew at the site of a pipe burst on 4 Pozdovzhnia Street in Mykolaiv, August 2024, photo by NikVesti

The municipal enterprise «Mykolaivvodokanal» needs 750 million hryvnias to carry out its activities in 2026.

This was announced by the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, in a commentary to NikVesti.

«Today, in order to exist, «Mykolaivvodokanal» needs 750 million hryvnias for the next year. This is just to exist, without modernisation. This is 15% of the planned budget for the next year for the entire city, all expenses,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

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According to the mayor, the water utility will receive these funds from the city budget.

«We may not be able to build new facilities, repair some facilities, build roads, but we have to provide water. So we will have money. It will just be less for everything else,» added the mayor.

As a reminder, the city council is currently discussing the 2026 budget of Mykolaiv. In particular, the budget requests of the fund managers for the next year include an increase in the average estimated salary for local government employees to 25,000 hryvnias, which is 66.7% more than in 2025, when this figure was 15,000 hryvnias.

At the same time, the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, in a commentary to NikVesti, promised that departments, offices and utilities would report to the city council before the adoption of the 2026 budget.

The mayor also promised that the city's budget for 2026 would include an object-by-object list.

As you know, Mykolaiv's budget used to be approved with an object-by-object description. In fact, this means that the draft budget used to specify specific objects with the exact amounts to be allocated for them. However, for the last 5 years at least, the city budget has been adopted without an object-by-object description. Although this is not a legal requirement for budget adoption, it promotes transparency: deputies and the public can see exactly where the funds will go, and it reduces the manoeuvre of «manual allocation» throughout the year and increases public accountability.

In addition, members of the Mykolaiv City Council said that as of 22 December, the draft city budget for 2026 had not yet been made public and provided to the deputies, despite the fact that the city council session is scheduled for 30 December. This, they say, contradicts the council's regulations.