₴60 million has been found to fund meals in Mykolaiv’s nurseries — the funds will be taken from the municipal enterprise’s loan guarantees

The Executive Committee has allocated 60 million hryvnias for meals in Mykolaiv’s nurseries. Illustrative photo: Konkurent. Volyn

The Executive Committee has approved the submission of budget amendments to the Mykolaiv City Council for consideration. The sum in question is 60 million hryvnias for school meals in the city’s kindergartens. This funding should last until October.

The decision was taken today, 8 July, at a meeting of the Executive Committee, according to NikVest’.

As a reminder, at a staff meeting at the city hall on 6 July, the head of the education department reported that funds for meals in kindergartens would last until 8 July. A session of the city council was convened for 9 July.

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Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych proposed adding a draft budget reallocation to the executive committee’s agenda in order to allocate funds for meals in Mykolaiv’s kindergartens. Following the Executive Committee meeting, it is to be considered by the relevant committee, and tomorrow, 9 July, by the Mykolaiv City Council.

«Let me explain why this is happening so quickly. We appealed twice to the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers: in December, when the budget was being approved, we explained that we were short of funds, and that is exactly what happened. Secondly, we appealed specifically regarding children’s meals, and we were promised a grant. It was allocated, but it is earmarked for school meals and cannot be used for kindergartens,» said Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Hanna Lychko, head of the education department, noted that meals in nurseries are funded solely from the local budget. According to Hanna Lychko, the contract for meals was due to expire by 24 June. However, the executive committee had previously reallocated the funds, so there will be enough to last until tomorrow, when the city council is due to pass a resolution on the allocation of funds.

«We have held a tender. We requested 60 million hryvnias, although we need 80 million for pre-school education institutions by the end of the year. If the session takes place tomorrow, 60 million should be enough for us according to preliminary calculations, provided there is no increase in the number of children in nurseries, or children in the priority category, by the end of October,» said Hanna Lychko.

Vira Sviatelyk, Director of the Finance Department, said that, on the mayor’s instructions, they had prepared a draft resolution to release 60 million hryvnias from guarantees under loan agreements.

«The credit facilities provided to Mykolaiv’s municipal enterprises — namely the water utility and the electric transport company — are subject to guarantees. When these enterprises take out credit facilities, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, in accordance with budgetary legislation, requires a guarantee from the founder of these municipal enterprises — the Mykolaiv City Council. The council guarantees that, in the event of loan default, it will repay the loans on their behalf. Therefore, the funds for these guarantees are allocated in the local authority’s budget,» explained Vira Sviatelyk.

Members of the Executive Committee voted in favour of the draft resolution. The mayor summarised that, overall, the budgetary situation is poor because the city has lost the personal income tax revenue from military personnel and law enforcement officers, and tax revenues have fallen due to people moving away.

It should be noted that a tender has already been held on the Prozorro platform for catering services in pre-school educational establishments in Mykolaiv. The estimated cost was 69.12 million hryvnias.

Tender for catering in nurseries. Screenshot from Prozorro

The sole participant in the tender was the Municipal Production Enterprise for the Organisation of Catering in Educational Institutions. Its final bid matched the estimated cost.

They intend to conclude a contract with the Municipal Production Enterprise. The notice states that the services were to be commissioned from 29 June to 23 October 2026. As of today, the contract has not yet been signed.

The Municipal Production Enterprise is awaiting the signing of the contract. Screenshot from Prozorro

Budget shortfall

As a reminder, at the session of the Mykolaiv City Council on 28 May, it was reported that by the end of 2026, the city would be short of almost 150 million hryvnias for providing meals for children in educational institutions. Of this amount, over 109 million hryvnias are required 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 was a «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, pay for utilities, repair roads and cover other expenses.

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.