Matvey Ivanov was elected to the position of mayor of Vylkovo for the second time. For the first time, he became the mayor in 2015, when Vylkovo was not yet the center of the united territorial community. And 5 years later, he tried on the old chair again, but now with greater powers - as the head of Vilkovskaya OTG. The former director of the ship repair and shipbuilding plant talked about his plans and the challenges he faces in his work.
- Matvey Konstantinovych, you got a community with a budget of minus 18 million hryvnias. Did they manage to straighten out the situation?
– A budget deficit of 18 million for the OTG with a population of 14 is not easy. I had to work with the revenue part of the budget every day, every hour. This is the control over receipts in the community budget and work on the topic of who avoids paying taxes in full. And also carried out cost optimization, redistributed the budget to priority needs.
Why was such a budget deficit formed? Several factors simultaneously contributed to this. Firstly, the mistakes of the previous team in the budget process. Secondly, there has been a crop failure for 2 years in a row, due to which the amount of revenues to the budget from agricultural producers has decreased. But, unfortunately, no one wanted to monitor the community's income, work with consequences and risks. After all, even in a situation with a low harvest and insufficient taxes, the budget could be stabilized and brought to zero, and not to the minus. But alas...
At the moment, the budget indicators are gradually growing. According to the results of the first quarter of this year, the budget hole of 18 million was closed, and this is a great achievement in such a short period from the very beginning of the term. The budget was leveled at plus 500 hryvnias. Yes, this small amount may sound funny, but the main thing is that we closed the debt. Now the revenue part of the budget is being filled, it is being filled well, and we are no longer talking about a budget deficit of Vilkovskaya OTG.
- What problems does OTG face now?
- As in every community, we have enough problems. The main ones are roads, problems of water supply and drainage, repairs of social facilities.
In the village of Desantnoe, the situation is simply catastrophic due to the lack of a centralized water supply. People are forced to buy imported water — both drinking and industrial water. Wells partially save the situation, but we understand that this is temporary, while the wells reach the aquifer. Therefore, we are planning to build a water pipeline, and for this we need 29 million hryvnias in advance. The village of Novonikolaevka lives with the same problem. But we are going to solve it.
Water utilities need to be repaired in Vylkovo. According to initial estimates, 28 million was required for this, but the prices have changed, and now the total amount can reach 40 million. In the village of Primorskoe, in the recreation area on the shore of the Black Sea, there is no sewage system and it needs to be built. For this, we will try to attract grant funds.
In the nearest plans, there is a capital repair of the road to the village of Mirnoye, as it is missing from the word "absolutely". But for this, a very large amount is needed - 113 million hryvnias.
A huge problem is the condition of the Vilkovo canals and streams. They need to be cleared and deepened. According to rough estimates, the cost of work in just one Belgorod canal is about 19 million hryvnias. About the same amount will be spent to repair the erics.
And this is only a small part of the community's problems.
- And how do you plan to solve these problems?
- Repairs of educational institutions are among the top priority tasks of the management of OTG. Our children need to create the most favorable conditions in accordance with the Concept of the "New Ukrainian School": modern food blocks, insulated walls and roofs, energy-efficient heating boilers. All this, of course, requires considerable budgetary infusions. For example, the kindergarten school in Novonikolaivka needs to replace the covering, and for this, 300 thousand hryvnias are needed. Renovate the bathroom on the 2nd floor of the school in the village of Primorskoe - it will cost 150 thousand. We strive to receive subsidies from the state budget for these purposes in order to reduce the burden on the local budget.
The plans also include the development of medicine in the community. The priority is to open a department of family medicine and a department of pulmonology. And these, in turn, are new jobs for residents of OTG.
- We talked about plans for the future. And what has your team already managed to do in real time?
- Not so much has been done, I would like more. Just now we repaired the roof of the school in Desantny, which was blown away by the wind. By the way, this roof was laid by our predecessors. And the community, now within the framework of warranty obligations, is forced to sue the contractor who repaired the roof poorly. The OTG budget must return 700 hryvnias for poorly executed work - after all, it is still necessary to repair the classrooms and the gym, which were flooded by rain.
In addition, we have now reorganized KP "Vodokanal" and its legal successor - communal enterprise "Zmeiny" - with the help of the OTG budget, they are forced to repay the arrears of wages to employees for previous periods. Therefore, the budget will not have any extra money.
Colossal work was carried out on the construction of the landfill in Vylkovo. Now it is one of the best landfills in the region. The same work was carried out in other villages of the community.
Street lighting was carried out where it had never been - in the villages of Mirnoe, Desantnoe and Nikolaevka. All the dirt streets were graded in all settlements of OTG, including in Vylkovo. The repair of the "Vylkov masonry" (wooden sidewalks along the erikov) has begun, and there are only 44 kilometers of them. As part of the subbotniks, the roadsides from Vylkovo to Novonikolaevka were cleared of debris - this is more than 20 kilometers.
- By the way, how are you doing with the coronavirus pandemic?
- Morbidity rates have declined, but 2 weeks ago the situation was critical. Now the situation is under control, thank God.
- But you personally, Matvey Konstantinovych, what challenges do you face in this term? As far as we know, at the beginning you had some disagreements with the deputy corps.
- I will not hide - there were misunderstandings. But that is behind us, one might say. We are all doing the same thing, so cooperation is being established. Personally, as the mayor, I am now waiting for the opening of the land market and I am thinking about how to protect the residents of the community in this regard. I will not allow land plots, earned by them with sweat and blood, which many live on, to be taken away from people.
- Were there precedents?
- Yes of course. For example, the conflict in Desantnoy is due to lease agreements concluded by the Kyliy regional state administration regarding reserve lands. Also, the issue of renting land plots for a period of 49 years according to the old regulatory assessment of land is now urgent. Even under the previous government, agricultural land, water fund land, and land in recreational areas were given away for pennies. But since the normative assessment of the land increases over the years, the budget of Vilkovskaya OTG annually loses about 10 million hryvnias per hour! First of all, this concerns promising areas, in Primorsky, for example.
- Both Vylkovo and the community have great tourist potential. But the community does not live by tourists alone. What, in your opinion, needs to be developed?
- Now, both large companies and small entrepreneurs work in OTG, but the budget receives little profit. The community lives mainly on income tax (46% of the budget's income), as well as rent and land payments (29% of the budget's income). And the tourist tax brings less than 1% of revenues to the budget. But we understand: if tourism develops, it will attract the attention of investors.
Local residents need jobs, and this can give industry and farming. It is necessary to develop enterprises of various industries, which will give both profit and additional revenues to the budget, and jobs. Then people will stay on their native land and develop the community.
- How do you see Vylkovo in the future?
- This is my native land and I, of course, want to see it prosperous and attractive. First of all, for young people who now want to move to big cities. Only thanks to the hard work of the team of Vilkovskaya OTG and cooperation with the population, with business, with regional and state authorities, attracting budget subsidies and grants, we will be able to create new jobs and strengthen the community.
