The average salary in Mykolaiv City Hall is to be increased by 66.7% to 25 thousand hryvnias

Mykolaiv City Council, archive: NikVesti

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, which is 66.7% more than in 2025, when the figure was 15,000 hryvnias.

This was discussed during the budget discussion at a meeting of the Commission on Publicity, Legality and Deputy Ethics, according to NikVesti.

City council member Tetiana Dombrovska asked about the number of employees of the finance department and the level of remuneration.

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Vira Sviatelyk, director of the city council finance department, explained that the calculation of salaries in the requests was based on a single principle for all executive bodies of local self-government.

According to her, the salary for 2026 was calculated on the basis of 25 thousand hryvnias after-tax income for each employee. This is a single position for all local governments. Then this amount was multiplied by the number of staff units of each key spending unit, and the payroll was formed.

Vira Sviatelyk added that in 2025, the baseline figure was 15 thousand hryvnias «per person». In particular, the Finance Department currently has 49 full-time equivalent positions.

The significant increase in expenditures was also pointed out by deputy Serhii Kantor, who stressed that the salary increase is significant for all departments of the city council.

«I analysed the data, and the increase in salaries for all departments is significant. I understand Vira Yevhenivna if there is a figure declared by the country for local council employees and it is a constant. 15 thousand in 2025 and 25 thousand in 2026 sounds awkward. When you look at relative figures, these are serious numbers. This is for all departments. We need to understand the source of income, because this is a very large amount of money,» said Serhii Kantor.

At the same time, Vira Sviatelyk explained that the increase in wages in local self-government bodies is related to the civil service reform, where they now pay 2.5 times the minimum wage. Therefore, she said, city council employees began to resign en masse.

«This year, the civil servants' salary reform was introduced, and now the minimum salary in the civil service is 2.5 times the minimum wage. That is, the minimum salary in the civil service is 20 thousand. Then there is a rank bonus, a longevity bonus, and a bonus. Thus, this year's salary in the civil service is twice as high as in local government. This has led to a very large outflow of people, and there will be a lot of dismissals. People are looking for better jobs with better salaries, and we have big losses, including in the Department of Finance,» said Vira Sviatelyk.

Separately, the director of the finance department clarified that the 25 thousand hryvnias is the amount after taxes. Actual budget expenditures per employee will be higher.

«When I say 25 thousand per person, they get it after taxes. If it's before taxes, I calculated that it will be 32,844 hryvnias. The salary will be 24% higher, because 24% of taxes for each local government employee are transferred to the state and local budget,» said the head of the finance department.

Vira Svyatelyk also explained that in addition to salaries, city hall employees receive two more mandatory payments — for health improvement and for solving household issues.

«I would like to remind you once again that in addition to the monthly salary they receive each month, local self-government bodies also have average monthly mandatory payments — healthcare assistance, which is provided to local self-government employees along with vacation, and financial assistance for social and domestic issues. Therefore, the payroll should be divided by 14,» she added.

It should be noted that the updated structure of executive bodies, which the deputies failed to approve, did not reduce the number of executive bodies and amounts to 1115 people.

Thus, on 11 December, the deputies of Mykolaiv City Council did not have enough votes to include the issue of approving the updated structure of executive bodies on the agenda.

In addition, on 14 November, during a meeting of the land commission, the deputies failed to pass a resolution due to a lack of votes, and a similar situation repeated itself on 18 November at a meeting of the specialised commission. The document also failed to move forward on 25 November, when the draft was considered for the second time by the Health and Social Protection Commission, as the deputies again failed to support the proposed changes.

Earlier it was reported that the Mykolaiv Department of Education proposed to establish municipal allowances for preschool teachers: 5,200 hryvnias for those who work full-time or in a mixed format, and 2,600 hryvnias for those who work remotely.

We would also like to remind you that the Mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, promised that departments, offices and utilities would report to the city council before the adoption of the 2026 budget.

For more information, see NikVesti «City Council Session Approves Budget Adjustments for 2025: What Utilities Will Receive and What Items Were Cut».

As a reminder, three weeks ago, all budget payments were suspended in Mykolaiv, as reported by sources in the Mykolaiv City Council. The main spending units were then instructed to suspend all payments for expenditures that did not relate to protected items, namely public sector salaries and utility bills. At the time, it was reported that the reason for this was the lack of budget funds to cover the protected budget items until the end of the year. The problem had been known for a long time, as the annual budget had not included funds for mandatory payments by the end of the year. The mayor's office hoped that budget overruns and savings during the year would help find the funds. However, this did not happen.

Later, Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych said that the city budget was looking for 60 million hryvnias for salaries and utilities.

NikVesti analysed the proposed changes to the distribution of expenditures in Mykolaiv' s budget and calculated that 7.2 million hryvnias would be allocated for salaries and utilities (in the budget, this is an expenditure item «Management and administration in the relevant area») for the city's budget managers, rather than the 60 million hryvnias previously mentioned by the mayor.