Operation “Optimization” – Uzhgorod city budget for the year 2013 forces to “tighten the belts”

As uzhgorod.in previously reported, the city budget for the year 2013 will not allow for any luxuries – for example, there is not adequate financial support for education. According to the representatives of local authorities, the budget will be more than just tight. The Deputy Mayor and the Head of Financial Department Svitlana Korol said that 93% of the city budget are the expenses provided for the so-called "protected items".
"2013 will be the year of cost optimization. We are preparing for this now, decisions have been made to optimize healthcare industry in the city, this also applies to administrative staff. It should be noted, that as of 2012, the city budgeting is carried out by the program-based method. On December 7, the session of the City Council approved 47 programs for 2013. Many of them are continuation of those programs that were started in 2012, in particular for capital repair and modernization of street lighting network, renovation of elevators, video surveillance and the support of condominiums. What is good is that for the next year the amount allocated for summer recreation of children is twice as large and equals to 800,000 UAH," – said the chief financier of the city.