«The state is increasing salaries, but it is up to local authorities to find the funds», said Liubarov, commenting on the Cabinet of Ministers’ resolution on funding for culture
- Julia LukyanenkoReporter
Yurii Liubarov, Head of the Department of Culture at Mykolaiv City Council. Photo: NikVestiThis week, the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture announced that, under a new Cabinet of Ministers resolution, salaries for workers in the cultural sector are to be increased from 1 January 2027. However, the full text of the resolution reveals that the funds for these pay rises must be found within local budgets, following a review of the network of cultural institutions and staffing levels.
Yurii Liubarov, Head of the Culture Department at Mykolaiv City Council, wrote about this on Facebook.
The Head of the Culture Department explained that, from 1 January 2027, the Government has provided for an increase in basic salaries for cultural workers: by 70 per cent — for staff at state and municipal cultural institutions whose salaries are calculated according to a single pay scale, as well as for staff at the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation and the Ukrainian Book Institute. Salaries are set to rise by 40 per cent for employees whose basic salaries are already subject to increase coefficients of up to and including 1.3.
The full text of the Cabinet of Ministers’ resolution states that local authorities have been advised to optimise the network of cultural institutions, improve their efficiency and review staffing levels in order to «free up funds as a result of such measures» for the purpose of increasing salaries.
«In simple terms, the government is telling local authorities: review the network of cultural institutions and staffing levels; identify where cuts or mergers can be made; and channel the savings into pay rises for cultural workers. «Optimising the network of cultural institutions» may involve reorganisation, merging institutions, structural changes, reducing administrative costs, and, in some cases, closing underperforming institutions. «Improving the efficiency of their operations» means that institutions must work more effectively: providing more services and events, and making better use of premises, equipment and budgetary funds,» noted Yurii Liubarov.
He also noted that «rational use of staff numbers» refers to a review of staffing levels: checking for redundant posts or staff with insufficient workloads.
«Funds that may be freed up — savings resulting from reorganisation, staff reductions, the merging of institutions or the reduction of other expenditure,» explained the head of the Department of Culture.
At the same time, he clarified that the Government is effectively proposing to find funding within the cultural sector itself, at the level of local budgets.
«The key word is «recommend». The Government is effectively proposing that local budgets find the money to increase salaries within the cultural sector itself, through savings and optimisation. In other words, the political implication of the resolution is this: the state is increasing basic salaries, but it is up to local authorities to find the funds for this, including by reviewing the network of institutions and staff numbers,» noted Yurii Liubarov.
As a reminder, Volodymyr Topchyi, director of the Mykolaiv Zoo, stated that there are currently no funds in Mykolaiv’s budget to pay the salaries of cultural sector employees from 1 September. He emphasised that the issue of funding needs to be resolved immediately.
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