Mykolaiv district councils hide budgets on their websites

Mykolaiv district demonstrated a gap in the transparency of financial activities of communities. The monitoring showed that out of 19 local councils, only 12 fully complied with the legal requirements by publishing budget documents in proper formats, with all the annexes and completeness. At the same time, 7 communities continue to "hide" their finances by publishing materials in violation of the formats, most often in the form of PDF files that are inconvenient for analysis.

This was reported by experts of the Center for Public Investigations.

The highest transparency and digital culture was demonstrated by councils that equipped their resources with an effective search. For example, on the websites of Vesniansk, Sukhoyelanets, Kostiantynivka, Ochakiv and Stepivka councils, the necessary documents are found almost instantly thanks to a clear menu and effective search engines. They not only publish data, but also make it as accessible as possible.

However, in other communities, the search turns into a "quest". In particular, the websites of Koblivka, Nechayany and Chornomorsk councils often lack direct links to adopted decisions. To find a complete package of documents, citizens have to go through several submenus (for example, from the 'Archive' to 'Draft Decisions' or to a separate section 'Budget 2025').

Despite these difficulties, all the audited communities that complied with the requirements published the text of the decision and all annexes in formats appropriate for analysis, which is in line with the current legislation. This shows that while most councils provide ultimate transparency, the path to information for citizens remains uneven and often complicated.

PHOTO: CPR

The analysts also found that seven communities in Mykolaiv district, although they publish budget documents, violate openness legislation by using an inconvenient PDF format for structured data, which makes it difficult for citizens to analyze finances effectively.

The main violation is that the annexes with financial tables are posted in an inappropriate format on the websites. In particular, Kutsurubska, Olshanska and Shevchenkivska village councils submitted key budget documents and annexes in PDF format, and they could be found on the website of Shevchenkivska council only through the section "Financial Department".

Violations were also recorded in other councils: Berezanska and Mishkovo-Pohorilivska village councils combined the decision and all annexes into one PDF file. Even Mykolaiv city council published tabular annexes in HTML format, which does not meet the requirements of open data.

Катерина Глушко