Snail monuments postponed: Odesa Oblast communities “forced” to focus on helping the military
Kyiv • UNN
Oleh Kiper, head of Odesa RMA, explained the mechanism of redistributing local budget funds to support the army. According to him, this is not a disruption of decentralization, but an efficient use of resources for military needs.
At the end of last year, the head of the Odesa Regional State Administration, Oleh Kiper, signed a decree on the forced redistribution of local budgets to support the Armed Forces. Despite criticism, the implementation of the document raises additional funds to help the military without harming the budgets of local communities. The head of the Odesa Regional State Administration Oleh Kiper said this in an interview with Ukrinform, UNN reports.
Details
He reminded that with the outbreak of a full-scale war, the head of the RMA has increased his powers.
"My joint order with the military command that some community funding should be redistributed to military needs is not a disruption of decentralization. Today we have a military component, and I, as the head of the military administration, can influence these processes. No one wants to go into legislation. If communities are "squeezed" a little, not allowed to lay tiles and earn a "kickback," their heads shout about the failure of decentralization. It's not their budget.
I emphasize: the community budget is not the budget of community heads. I did not take anything away from them, but offered them the opportunity to use financial resources for military needs. For example, at the expense of communities, we spent about 200 million hryvnias to repair the hospital. What is more important: repairing several buildings of a medical institution or a monument to a snail?" - Kiper says.
Each community transfers to the needs of the Armed Forces the amount of funds it considers necessary and can afford, but not more than 20% of the budget, Kiper continued.
"Previously, communities distributed funds to whomever and wherever they wanted. When I took over as head of the RMA, I asked the military command if they knew anything about the transfer of money to those units. They didn't. Then we decided to help military units upon request. For example, there was a request for drones. The commander of the region checked, and if there is such a need, we agree on the request and ask for money from the community where the unit is registered.
Now communities only agree with us whether they can allocate funds for this or that part. We do not take hryvnias from them ourselves," he emphasized.
