Mayor Sadovyi’s tireless work: millions for parks, envelopes, stamps and grass mowing

Spending funds from city and state budgets should be based on the principle: “it is very necessary and it must be done immediately.” But who determines which costs are critical and which are not? To buy postage stamps for a million hryvnias, to cut the grass for 5 million, to renovate a park or to repair a stage for creative performances – which of these is really necessary? LVIV.MEDIA journalists examined the issue of non-critical expenditures from the city budget of Lviv by Mayor Andriy Sadovyi and his team.

Why are they interested in the topic of budget expenditures at all? Firstly, absolutely everyone should tighten their belt now, because every hryvnia saved for local needs should be given to the needs of Ukraine’s defenders. And secondly, the list of expenses has been very surprising lately.

One million for envelopes and stamps

For example, this month the budget committee of the Lviv City Council approved the allocation of one million hryvnias to the Main Department of the State Tax Service in Lviv region to pay for postal services. We are talking about purchasing stamps and envelopes for the tax service. In the era of emails, the Single Portal of Public Services, Diia. We spend a million hryvnias from the city budget on envelopes and stamps for tax officers. The city council explained that the tax authorities could not send notifications about the need to pay local taxes in any other way. Can we find another way to save this money? It’s a million hryvnias, and it’s just a simple and legal thing to send to the trash or, if you like, to waste paper.

A park for 23 million

There is also an interesting story about Zamarstynivskyi Park. For some reason, until 2023, the fate of this park was not a major concern for local authorities. The Town Hall suddenly began to think about development, care and preservation when the Neslumni Rehabilitation Center appeared.

The reconstruction of the park began in 2021 with a budget of more than UAH 10 million. Then the contract with the contractor was terminated. And in October 2023, in the midst of the “Drones First, Stadiums Later” campaign, when activists were holding rallies and demanding that local spending on non-critical needs be cut and transferred to the needs of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, Lviv recalculated the park’s repair estimates and ordered reconstruction for more than UAH 25 million. And the criticality of repairing the park was wrapped in a wrapper that is a favorite in the city of Lviv – the “Unbreakable” rehabilitation center is nearby. They say that the injured defenders of Ukraine need rehabilitation, and the park will come in handy. By the way, what is the fate of these funds? Because the park has been abandoned and is still standing.

How much money is spent on grass cutting

But the story of parks and landscaping does not end there. Last year, the Lviv City Hall announced that they would refuse to cut non-critical expenses in the city’s economy, and, for example, would not mow the grass. The announcement was made on November 23, 2023, during a presentation of the budget priorities for the next year by Iryna Maruniak, the advisor to the mayor of Lviv on housing and communal services. The publication “Your City” leads her quote: “I would like to emphasize that we do not plan to mow the grass next year. There were some opinions and posts about why we should mow the grass. We agree with that and will not do it.” At the time, in addition to saving money, it was argued that it was important to respect biodiversity and the dust that is raised during mowing. But if you look at the ProZorro website, you can find some very interesting aspects of the costs.

For example, Sykhiv district submitted a tender for landscaping and grass cutting worth UAH 3 million. The Frankivsk district, in turn, also announced a tender for UAH 5 million 570 thousand, and with these funds they plan to cut grass, take care of seedlings, and maintain flowers and parks. In general, each district of Lviv on average purchases these services for about 4-5 million hryvnias in a transparent manner. The Galician district also submitted a tender for 200 thousand for the care, planting and preservation of tulip bulbs. Of course, no one disputes that there are critical issues in the care of parks and plantations, such as cutting down hazardous trees that can harm the health of residents. But tulips?

It is unknown how much money will be spent on landscaping and maintenance in Lviv from the city budget, as the press service of the Lviv City Council has not been able to find anyone to comment on this for LVIV.MEDIA since May 10. In a word, they spend money, but it’s a bit of a stretch to answer why.

And they spend it as best they can, sometimes taking it away from other needs. In general, everyone in Lviv has been living on credit for a long time, because the City Hall covers all major needs with credit, and it would be nice if the city’s economy and income were growing steadily. Last week, the Lviv City Council announced that Lviv district administrations would be allocated UAH 120 million for road repairs.

120 million for road repairs and another three million for a path in the museum

The roads in Lviv have become, to put it mildly, so-so. But let us remind you that last year, activists and volunteers gathered outside the regional administration to protest “First Drones, Then Stadiums,” calling road repairs, road construction, and all the rest not critical expenses, but for some reason they appealed only to the regional budget. There were no complaints about how Lviv spends its funds. And in vain! By the way, the City Hall plans to use this 120 million hryvnias for other purposes:

• – UAH 30 million of the money allocated for the e-ticketing system in the second half of the year (these funds are expected to be returned in July). Call an exorcist, because that ticket will never fully work in Lviv.
• – 29 million 412 thousand. UAH from the heat supply program
• – UAH 10 million from the parks maintenance program, oh, this is interesting, and we will come back to it!!!
• – 40 million 580 thousand. UAH, which were planned as contributions to the authorized capital of Lvivteploenergo and UAH 10 million from the program to ensure control and supervision of the state of improvement.

In general, there are a lot of small expenditures for the improvement of the city, and they do not look so suspicious on their own, and they are made to make the city beautiful and comfortable. But in doing so, they are taking out not so small amounts of money from the budget. For example, the construction of a barrier-free path in Shevchenkivskyi H ai will cost UAH 3 million. In April, the Finance and Budget Planning Committee of the Lviv City Council approved the allocation of 500 thousand UAH. UAH for the construction of this path. According to the city deputies, this path is very much needed there, and guess who needs it? Of course, for the military who returned from the war with injuries and use wheelchairs.

With great respect for our veterans, I have to say this out loud. It smells like populism. Because the City Hall is doing its best to make the city beautiful and comfortable, so that Lviv residents can see a well-groomed city and be satisfied. And when your voters are satisfied, it is easier to be re-elected for the next term. You’ll only remember the garbage problem when your city landfill burns down, and you’ll only remember the sewage treatment plant when the shit comes out of your toilets. In fact, while the city is planting flowers, mowing grass, and laying new paths, Lviv has huge debts to its creditors. And more money is spent on their return from the city budget than on aid for the Armed Forces.

How Mayor Sadovyi in Lviv gives away land

There are also two very interesting stories that are not about the money spent, but about the land that the Lviv city government, instead of selling it and using the money to help the army, is simply giving away on favorable terms or for free.

The first story is about the Sygnivka Industrial Park. At one time, the city spent more than UAH 200 million to build infrastructure and repair access streets. It was a kind of investment, like making the territory attractive to investors, selling them land for an industrial park, and returning the money invested with a profit. But last year, the city authorities changed their plans, and instead of selling the land, they leased it on preferential terms to Formatsiya Synnivka. Yes, a whole tender was announced for this purpose, but only one company applied for it, and it won. At the time, the city council explained that because of the full-scale invasion, investors did not want to buy city land, so they had to give it away for almost nothing.

Another, even worse story is the carve-up of 24 hectares of land in the Pid Holoskom neighborhood. For several years, the Lviv City Council has been giving away land plots for free, allegedly to members of the Pidholosko garden cooperative. And when it was successfully distributed, the members of this garden society contributed their plots to the authorized capital of Flo Lviv. At the same time, the designated purpose of the plots was strangely changed from estate development to multi-apartment housing construction. And then the owner of the land quietly resold it to Lviv developers working under the Aurum brand. This is a simple scheme of carving up Lviv’s city land. Estimated losses for the city amount to UAH 190 million.

Does Mayor Andriy Sadovyi have no opposition?

And there is another problem here, a purely political one. How local self-government works in democratic countries: there is a mayor and executive units subordinated to him. And there are city council members who are supposed to control the work of officials. And these two branches of government, under the watchful eye of the public, should discuss and argue with each other and make informed decisions in the process. Problems begin when these branches grow together. And it seems that this is exactly what we are seeing in Lviv. At least that’s the impression one gets from the last session of the Lviv City Council. There was unanimous agreement: to allow the construction of a new residential complex in Pidzamche – no problem To build housing at the Lviv Equipment Plant – please do. It is no problem to support the idea of transferring the Prosthetic Plant to municipal ownership. If there is no agreement, as with the new loan of more than UAH 800 million, the issue is modestly withdrawn from public consideration. Then they’ll go for coffee and make a deal.

By the way, Lviv is one of the richest communities in the country. Last year, Forbes magazine conducted a study of how much money cities allocated to support regional maintenance crews during the first nine months of 2023 and how these amounts correlate with the costs of improving regional centers. So Lviv then spent 324 million hryvnias on the terrorist defense, and a billion 358 million on the improvement of the city! We’ll see what happens this year!