Mykolaiv City Council to Discuss Budget Changes and Executive Committee on April 24

Mykolaiv is preparing for a regular meeting of the city council to be held on April 24 via videoconference. The deputies will discuss the budget, municipal property and the composition of the executive committee.

The relevant order was signed by the mayor , Oleksandr Senkevych.

This is the 43rd session of the City Council of the VIII convocation, and you will be able to follow its progress online - broadcasts are scheduled on the YouTube channel and the official website of the City Council. The broadcast will also be conducted by Intent.

Although the law of Ukraine on local self-government obliges to publish information about sessions in advance, as of 18:00, the agenda of the next city council meeting has not yet been published.

Mykolaiv city council has been holding sessions remotely for more than two years, but this format has drawn a lot of criticism - from lack of transparency during voting to violations in the publication of materials. According to experts from the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, the announcement of an online meeting should appear no later than one day before the start, but often the agenda with draft decisions is published only the night before the session, which makes it difficult for both deputies and the public to access information.

As for the draft decisions, the deputies will consider changes to the general budget of the community for 2025, discuss property relations, in particular, the transfer of seven vocational education facilities to communal ownership.

Other initiatives include updating the program of economic and social development of Mykolaiv for 2024-2026, as well as approving recommendations for tree trimming in the city. In particular, it is planned to reconstruct the main water supply system on Myru Avenue, from Pivdenna Street to Pohranichna Street. In addition, the projects include the modernization of the boiler room in the building of Mykolaiv Gymnasium No. 23, located on Garzionna Street. These initiatives may receive funding with the support of the European Investment Bank.

In addition to financial and economic issues, the city council has to resolve personnel issues - to make changes to the executive committee. In particular, they will discuss whether to keep former regional council member Yuriy Kormyshkin as a member of the committee.

One of the issues on the agenda is the redistribution of funds in the city budget. In particular, it is about 50 million hryvnias to be used to pay off the debts of the municipal enterprise Mykolaivoblteploenergo to international financial organizations. These funds were earmarked as a contribution to the company's authorized capital.

In addition, an open all-Ukrainian architectural competition was announced for the best project proposal for the restoration of the Officers' Assembly, an architectural monument of national importance located in the heart of the city.

The editorial board of Intent has repeatedly raised the issue of voting transparency and sent relevant requests to local authorities. In particular, after the online broadcast of the session of the Mykolaiv Regional Council did not take place on April 25, 2024, journalists asked the press service to explain the reason. The head of the press service, Hanna Chepova, responded that the broadcast was not held due to security concerns.

Анна Бальчінос