The budget is being drained, while directors of municipal enterprises are receiving millions: in Mykolaiv, calls are being made for an investigation

A deputy of the Mykolaiv City Council, elected from the “OPZZh” party, Yevhen Prudnyk proposed to review the number of municipal enterprises in the housing and communal services sector and to check on what grounds salaries are paid to the directors and management staff of municipal enterprises.

The deputy raised this issue during a meeting on June 29, 2026, of the standing commission of the Mykolaiv City Council on housing and communal services, which took place on June 29, 2026. Yevhen Prudnyk drew attention to the fact that the city lacks funds even for basic needs, while the number of municipal enterprises and their employees has increased.

According to the deputy, the city authorities should analyze whether all municipal enterprises remain necessary in their current form and whether they can provide employees with a sufficient amount of work. He proposed to instruct the Department of Housing and Communal Services to prepare options for optimizing municipal enterprises taking into account the financial capabilities of the 2026 budget and forecasts for the next year.

Explaining the first proposal, Yevhen Prudnyk stated that due to the budget deficit the city can no longer fully load all the created municipal enterprises with work.

“As of today, in 2026, we have faced the bitter truth that we cannot fully load all our municipal enterprises with work due to the lack of funds in the budget. So I have a proposal to give the Department of Housing and Communal Services the task of reviewing, in general, the number and necessity of our municipal enterprises that belong to the housing and communal services sphere. And also to provide proposals for optimizing these municipal institutions based on this year’s and next year’s planned budget figures. They are more or less, as it seems to me, known, and, so to speak, the city would not spend money on maintaining employees whom we cannot fully load with work due to the lack of funds,” — said Yevhen Prudnyk.

Separately, the deputy appealed to the Department of Housing and Communal Services, the relevant deputy mayor Yurii Andrienko, and the mayor. After the publication of the annual declarations of the heads of municipal enterprises, Yevhen Prudnyk said he had questions about the sizes of the salaries of directors and other members of the management team.

As an example, the deputy mentioned the head of the municipal enterprise “Mykolaivoblteploenerho”, Mykola Logvinov, whose annual salary he rounded up to 3 million hryvnias. For comparison, he recalled the need of the Department of Culture to find 1.5 million hryvnias to pay salaries to its employees.

Justifying the need for an inspection, Yevhen Prudnyk urged to provide the commission with the regulations, indicators and other documents on the basis of which such amounts are paid to the heads of municipal enterprises.

“We lack funds in the budget, and at the same time directors of municipal enterprises receive such salaries. For example, Mr. Logvinov received a salary of 3 million hryvnias last year. At the same time, the Department of Culture is looking for 1.5 million for the entire department to pay employees’ salaries. It seems to me that we are living very lavishly while we have no funds. What is the essence of my question regarding salaries? Not only the director’s, but also the entire management team of municipal enterprises. On what basis are such salaries calculated? Is there a regulation on salary calculation? If it exists, how can we afford such salaries? Are there any indicators on which this salary is based? Let the Department of Housing and Communal Services and the relevant deputy prepare such information, and we will look. Well, it seems to me that it is somewhat abnormal to have such salaries given these financial indicators,” — noted Yevhen Prudnyk.

Note that Mykola Logvinov’s declaration for 2025 indicates a salary of 2,801,679 hryvnias, or approximately 233,473 hryvnias per month. Therefore, the 3 million hryvnias voiced by the deputy is a rounded figure.

Both proposals of Yevhen Prudnyk — regarding the analysis of the necessity and possible optimization of municipal enterprises, as well as an explanation of the mechanism for forming the salaries of their leadership — were put to a vote. They were supported by 6 members of the commission, and the decision was adopted.

Previously we wrote:

• At “Mykolaivoblteploenerho” they are looking for an anti-corruption officer with a salary starting at 31.6 thousand hryvnias
• Million-hryvnia salaries amid losses: directors of Mykolaiv municipal enterprises earn as much as entire crews of workers
• Mykolaiv lacks over 50 million hryvnias for salaries in culture and education: jobs and library branches under threat
• Heat, light and millions: declaration of the director of “Mykolaivoblteploenerho”
• There is money, but not for everyone: Mykolaiv increased the budget by hundreds of millions of hryvnias, while culture remained on the brink of survival