Changes to Odesa’s City Budget for April 24
On the official website of Odesa City Council, in the section “draft decisions of the City Council”, draft decisions have appeared, including a draft on amendments to the city budget that are to be submitted to a session supposedly scheduled for April 24. Green Leaf examined the budget twists and turns.
What changes are proposed for the city budget
Revenue
All changes on the revenue side are subventions from other budgets, both the state budget and the Odesa Oblast budget. The total amount is UAH 301.5 million.
The following should be noted. At the end of 2023, UAH 191.2 million in unused funds was returned from the city budget to the state budget, as Green Leaf wrote earlier, while this year UAH 219.5 million is already being provided from the State Budget for the same purposes (an increase of UAH 28.3 million), as stated in Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 247 of March 5, 2024. We also note that the construction of a kindergarten has disappeared from the funding list, although it had previously been planned at 4 Pestelia Lane, Odesa. What prompted these changes is not yet known.
Expenditure
In addition to reflecting the subventions on the expenditure side, we draw attention to the following spending item:
— UAH 10 million is being allocated to the Road Management Department for sidewalk repairs and the installation of ramps at five addresses. Yes, ramps are necessary, but do ramps really cost these amounts? Or is the need to install ramps being used as cover for other work? Especially since most of the amount — UAH 5.2 million — is planned solely for the major repair (restoration) of the hard surface of sidewalks at Borys Derevianko Square, with ramps at the intersections with Itzhak Rabin Street and Akademika Filatova Street. The second-largest amount, UAH 2.9 million, is planned for major repair (restoration) of sidewalk paving with ramps at the corner of Kanatna and Sehedska streets in Odesa.
It is also impossible not to note that, following an unfortunate tradition, the reserve fund is once again being reduced — this time by UAH 14.2 million.
What is currently missing from the draft decision on amendments to the budget
1. At present, the authorities show no desire to distribute the concealed UAH 1.1 billion, as Green Leaf wrote earlier.
2. There is no information whatsoever on the distribution of the deputies’ fund. We recall that UAH 155.8 million is currently recorded as undistributed in the city budget.
3. There is no increase in assistance to combat units of Ukraine’s Defense Forces. As Green Leaf has reported, the city budget currently provides only UAH 85.7 million for combat units.
4. There is no information on putting the financing of the city’s municipal programs in order, as was noted by Green Leaf.
5. There is no information about increased spending on the city’s territorial defense, particularly on increasing the number of mobile firing positions for engaging Shahed drones.
In summary
Either the city authorities have switched to austerity mode, or they are following the old scheme — trying to introduce amendments to the draft immediately before the session itself. In Odesa it has become normal for the public to be unable to review draft decisions; even the deputies themselves do not have time to study them. So the deputies will probably once again have to vote for the budget “blindly,” relying on trust as usual. We also recall that the previous draft budget amendments that reached the session hall contained five changes. One wonders whether the deputies are just as trusting when it comes to their own family budgets.