Mykolaiv lacks one billion in funding: city council appeals to the Government

At a meeting held on December 30, 2025, the deputies of the Mykolaiv City Council decided to appeal to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The main purpose of the appeal is to receive an additional subsidy from the state budget for 2026.

This was reported by the website of the Association of Cities.

The city authorities justify the need to allocate at least UAH 1.14 billion to cover the budget deficit of the Mykolaiv territorial community and ensure its stable functioning.

The city authorities call on the state to provide funding that will allow critical infrastructure, housing and communal services, and social institutions to operate without interruption, as well as guarantee the fulfillment of state social obligations to residents.

According to the document, the financial condition of the community is critical, as Mykolaiv's own revenues for 2026 are only 82.5% capable of meeting the city's real needs. The total budget deficit exceeds UAH 1 billion 140 million. At the same time, the community's budget for the next year was developed on the basis of maximum frugality.

In particular, salary costs for employees of budgetary institutions are planned without any indexation, at the level of actual payments in 2025. Most of the current expenditures were excluded from the calculations, leaving only the financing of protected items and the minimum operating needs of public utilities.

Capital expenditures have also been severely limited and amount to only about UAH 300 million, which is the minimum required to restore and maintain the damaged infrastructure. At the same time, the city is obliged to fully fulfill its debt obligations, which require UAH 480.5 million in 2026. The issue of support for Mykolaivvodokanal is particularly acute, with an estimated need of UAH 750 million, but the budget only partially provides for these funds, depending on the available resources.

The main reasons for this difficult situation are the constant destruction of business, housing and networks as a result of hostile shelling, massive relocation of enterprises to other regions and a shrinking tax base. In addition, the city budget lost approximately 26% of personal income tax revenues due to the removal of the 'military' and 'security' PIT.

Катерина Глушко