In Mykolaiv’s nurseries, the proportion of children eligible for concessions has risen to 71 per cent

In Mykolaiv’s nurseries, the proportion of children eligible for concessions has risen to 71 per cent. Illustrative photo: my.novyny

Since kindergartens in Mykolaiv began operating during the war, the number of children eligible for subsidies has risen by 44 per cent and now stands at 71 per cent. Meals for these children are funded from the local budget. This was cited as one of the reasons why, halfway through the year, there is a shortfall of 60 million hryvnias in the budget for meals in kindergartens.

This was discussed at a session of the Mykolaiv City Council today, 9 July, according to NikVesti.

During the discussion of the draft amendments to the budget — which involve reallocating 60 million hryvnias for meals in nurseries — councillors noted that there had already been issues when the 2025 budget was adopted.

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Councillor Serhii Kantor noted that mistakes had been made when the budget was adopted, which is why the funds now have to be reallocated.

«When the budget was adopted, certain, shall we say, shortcomings were made, which have meant that we have had to reallocate the budget over the course of half a year. I would like to point out that we will be correcting these errors in the second half of the year. Having analysed all this, we must, at the very least, avoid making these mistakes in 2027, because whilst it is all well and good to rely on a state subsidy, a country at war is a completely different matter and all resources go to the front, and here we must manage our budget wisely ourselves,» said Serhii Kantor.

Oleksandr Sienkevych replied that there are objective factors behind the funding shortfall.

«There are objective factors — rising food prices, and secondly, an increase in the number of people eligible for benefits,» said the mayor.

Hanna Lychko, head of the education department, noted that since the start of the war, the number of people eligible for benefits has risen to 71 per cent.

«When we began reopening nurseries during the full-scale invasion in July 2023, only 27 per cent of children were in eligible categories. By the following year, this figure had risen to 45 per cent. Today, it stands at 71 per cent. Meals for these children are funded from the local budget,» remarked Hanna Lychko.

A meeting of the Mykolaiv City Council. Screenshot from the broadcast

Serhii Kantor believed that such changes should have been anticipated.

«This is a very delicate matter, and we should have anticipated precisely this process, as the number would inevitably increase during the war. And this is a matter of life,» replied the councillor.

Councillor Olena Kiseliova remarked that, following Serhii Kantor’s comments, it seemed as though the councillors had overlooked something in the budget. She explained that approaches to children’s meals have now changed and 100 per cent of those eligible for subsidies are provided with meals in educational establishments at the expense of the local budget.

Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych added that even taking state co-funding into account, the burden on the local budget had increased.

«The burden on the budget is growing. The state has decided that we will provide meals for all children, even those who were not previously provided for, and says that it will cover part of the total funding. Does this ease the strain on our budget? No, because the additional funding is to be provided from the local budget. The number of children in priority groups is increasing, and there are additional areas requiring co-funding, namely social workers. And revenues are falling, because we have currently planned the budget based on a pessimistic scenario, so that by the middle of the year, if there are additional funds, we can reallocate them,» said the mayor.

Councillor Olena Kiseliova added that changes at national level are being borne by local taxpayers — through local budgets.

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 will be short of almost 150 million hryvnias for school meals. Of this, over 109 million hryvnias are needed 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.

At a staff meeting at the City Hall on 6 July, the head of the education department reported that funds for meals in nurseries would last until 8 July.

On 8 July, the executive committee approved amendments to the budget: it is proposed that 60 million hryvnias be allocated from the guarantee obligations that the city council provides when granting loans to municipal enterprises. This amount should be sufficient until the end of October.

At the budget committee meeting on 9 July, the head of the education department, Hanna Lychko, noted that the session had to be convened urgently as they were awaiting funds from the state budget.

Earlier, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych had stated that Mykolaiv’s budget for 2026 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 utility services, 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.