Councillor Kantor calls intentions to raise salaries of Mykolaiv officials by 42% unfair

Mykolaiv City Council deputy Serhiy Kantor, photo by NikVesti.

Mykolaiv City Council member Serhii Kantor (group «Sanation») considers the city authorities' plans to increase the salaries of city hall officials by 42% groundless and socially unfair. Serhii Kantor wrote about this in his blog on NikVesti, analysing the draft budget of Mykolaiv for 2026, which deputies are asked to support at the session tomorrow, 30 December.

He noted that in 2025, the actual payroll with accruals amounted to 440 million hryvnias. The draft budget for 2026 already provides 623 million hryvnias for the same purposes. The increase is 183 million hryvnias, or 42%.

«Guys, come to your senses! On 25 December, the draft budget of the territorial community of Mykolaiv for 2026 was published on the city council's website. The first thing that immediately catches your eye is the significant and unjustified increase in the salary fund for employees of the executive bodies of the city council. And this is despite the fact that the number of employees in 2026 remains unchanged — 1115. What had to happen to suggest that the deputies support such a decision? Perhaps in 2026, the city expects a «golden rain»?» wrote Serhii Kantor.

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He states that a comparison of actual revenues in 2025 (6.7 billion hryvnias) with the revenues budgeted for 2026 (5.5 billion hryvnias) shows a decrease in Mykolaiv's budget revenues.

Serhii Kantor noted that the average salary in Mykolaiv, according to the State Statistics Service, is about 24,500 hryvnias, while the official income of the city's top management — the mayor, his deputies, advisers, the administrator, the council secretary, and directors of departments and independent administrations — exceeds 70,000 hryvnias per month.

«I am convinced that fellow deputies would not have any objections to a 10% increase in their salaries. Such an increase would ensure an average salary of about ₴34,000, or, as the executive committee likes to say, about ₴26,000 after-tax income. At the same time, the remuneration of the management team could have increased by much more than 10% under such conditions. However, a 42% increase in the wage bill during the war looks unreasonable, disproportionate and socially unfair. And all of this is against the backdrop of constant scandals, criminal proceedings and corruption allegations», wrote Serhii Kantor.

Earlier it was reported that the budget requests of the Mykolaiv City Council for 2026 include an increase in the average estimated salary for local government employees to 25,000 hryvnias after-tax income, which is 66.7% more than in 2025, when this figure was 15,000 hryvnias.

As a reminder, the Mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, promised that the city's budget for 2026 would include an object-by-object list.

As you know, previously the budget of Mykolaiv was 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 at least the last 5 years, the city budget has been adopted without an object-by-object description. Although this is not a legal requirement for the adoption of the budget, 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.

As a reminder, members of the Mykolaiv City Council claim that the draft city budget for 2026 has not yet been made public and provided to the deputies, despite the fact that the city council session is scheduled for 30 December, which, according to them, contradicts the council's regulations.

Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych plans to appeal to the President, the Government and the Ministry of Finance for additional state support for the city. According to him, Mykolaiv's budget for 2026 is critically limited and the city will not be able to perform basic functions without state support.