“My job is such that I am one of the few who call things by their name. And I want to say this plainly: local self-government is being deliberately strangled. Financially strangled. Strangled in other ways too — including through politically motivated criminal cases,” Filatov said. “There are 297 territorial communities, including nine regional capitals, that have no mayors. The reasons vary, each case can be assessed separately, but I am talking about the trend.”
According to the mayor of Dnipro, every year the adoption of the state budget turns “into an act of looting” directed at the regions.
“Every year we are robbed, robbed, robbed. All of you live in territorial communities, in towns and cities. And if the current trend carries on, by 2026 we won’t have money even to clear the sewage, excuse me. In Mykolayiv, for example, even protected social payments have already been halted.
We calculated that if the adopted budget (the discussion took place before the vote — Ed.) once again imposes the reverse grant on us, takes away 4% of PIT, plus the tariff gap and everything else, Dnipro will lose around UAH 10 billion. In effect, the city council will turn into a payroll office — salaries, social payments, and servicing loans. We will be thrown back to 2013. And all this talk about Ukraine Facilities, about decentralisation — just talk,” Filatov said sharply.
He added that, in private conversations, the withdrawal of funds from major cities is explained as an attempt to deprive mayors of political capital. But for the country, this may end in a full-blown utilities collapse.
“Remember the story about the so-called military PIT that was taken away from local self-government (the money is supposed to go into a special fund to support the Defence Forces. — Ed.). An anonymous Telegram-channel smear campaign called ‘Drones, not stadiums’ was launched. But they took not only the military PIT — they also took the security one: the National Guard, the police, the courts, the State Emergency Service — all these people and their families live in territorial communities, use communal services, infrastructure and so on. And do you know how that money was eventually spent? UAH 120 billion was spent by the Defence Ministry — 45%, the State Service of Special Communications — zero, the Strategic Industries Ministry — 2%. UAH 77 billion remained, it was returned to the general fund and spent on the national telethon and everything else. No comment. As I say: neither drones nor stadiums,” the mayor of Dnipro noted.
According to him, because there is no stable legislative regulation of budget indicators from year to year, territorial communities cannot plan even in the short term, let alone in the medium term.
“I’m having déjà vu. Every year I go to the Finance Ministry, call the head of the government. And this doesn’t apply only to the current authorities. It was the same under Petro Oleksiyovych, I was constantly arguing with Hroysman. Every year, before the central budget is adopted, they want to rob us. Take this away, take that away. And now they say: ‘Choose between four per cent or a reverse subsidy’ (in the adopted version of the budget, communities were left with 4% of PIT. — Ed.). But we’re not at a market. What does 4% have to do with a reverse subsidy — these are completely different financial instruments. How can it be either one or the other?” Filatov stressed.
He gave an example of how he asked the central government for help to re-register internally displaced persons (IDPs) but was refused. (There are 557,000 displaced people living in Dnipropetrovsk Region, 170,000 officially in Dnipro.)
“If we talk about internally displaced people, 170,000 is only those officially registered. How many there really are, I don’t know, nobody knows. I believe there are more than 300,000 in Dnipro.
We need to – and I’ve said this repeatedly – I won’t name names because of my position: anything you say can get you into trouble – either a criminal case or your money gets taken. I said we need to carry out another re-registration of IDPs. To which I was told it’s politically inappropriate. But I can’t count them myself.
I track them through initial medical declarations, mobile operators, the aid they receive, waste norms, and so on. But we live in a free country, and often, for example, people come from Donbas, leave a child studying in Dnipro, attending school online, while they move to Poltava. And you simply cannot count that,” the mayor of Dnipro laments.
So, for now, according to Filatov, the best way for the Centre and Regions to interact is: “Don’t help, just don’t interfere.”
“Dnipro is truly a frontier. But there’s no need to reinforce us. I’ll speak for all local government: please, leave us in peace, let us keep what rightfully belongs to our residents. Just a few figures: the number of missile and drone strikes on Dnipro — 197. Buildings destroyed or damaged — 2,220. Of these, private homes — 1,010, apartment blocks — 672, educational institutions — 225, healthcare facilities — 47, industrial sites — 70, infrastructure objects — 19.
I’ll give an example of when the authorities tried to support us, without irony. In June there was a strike that destroyed half of Novokodatskyy District, with a huge number of buildings affected. In June the Cabinet of Ministers allocated a subsidy of 88 million. We only received it on 6 November. And how are we supposed to use it now? There’s no way we’ll manage in time.
Just let us keep what we have. Nothing more is needed. Because the war has reached all regions of Ukraine. The war has reached Ternopil. So just let us work in peace,” concluded Borys Filatov.