Press Release, 28.11.2022

Photo: A session of the Novgorod City Duma / Photo by duma.nov.ru

On 25 November, the Novgorod City Duma considered in the first reading the draft city budget for 2023 and for the planning period of 2024 and 2025. The total amount of planned budget revenues for 2023 will amount to 6.867 billion roubles, and expenditures for 7.127 billion roubles. The deficit will amount to 260 million roubles. The faction of the Yabloko party voted against the adoption of the draft budget.

Anna Cherepanova, head of the Yabloko faction in the Novgorod City Duma, explained why she did not support the draft budget:

First, the budget did not reflect the real situation in the economy and was formed on the basis of optimism that everything would be as it was, and even better. As if there were neither special military operation, nor mobilization, nor economic sanctions.

In fact, an increase in federal budget spending on defence and law enforcement means a reduction in regional investment programmes, and economic sanctions undermine export-oriented industries, for Novgorod it is the production of mineral fertilisers and the chemical giant PAO Akron, which virtually maintains the budget. There will be a deep recession: a decline in industrial production, construction, and the services sector. The growth of inflation, the decline in real incomes of people will lead to a drop in demand in the consumer market and the closure of small businesses. All together this will lead to a decrease in revenues to the city budget.

Second, as in the previous year, 7.5 billion roubles of liabilities remained outside the budget, and almost 4 billion out of this amount are the needs of educational and cultural institutions for repairs, ensuring school safety and other needs; another 3.5 billion are unexecuted court decisions and orders from administrative bodies. There is no source in the budget to cover these expenses, and Mayor Alexander Rozbaum has no idea where to find the money. In 2023, schools and kindergartens will be left without major and current repairs, there will be no affordable travel cards for schoolchildren and students, there will be neither housing programmes for large families, nor construction of social housing for people on the waiting list. There are no plans to build a kindergarten, sports facilities, a cultural and leisure centre.

Yabloko has repeatedly proposed revising inter-budgetary relations and increasing personal income tax deductions to the city budget from 15% to 50%, which will give an additional 2.4 billion roubles a year.

Third, Mayor Alexander Rozbaum unreasonably included in the budget expenses the repair of the Old Fountain worth 20 million roubles, architectural lighting in the amount of 27 million roubles, and support for the propagandist newspaper Novgorod – 18 million roubles. In total, more than 65 million roubles.

Instead of a fountain that does not represent any architectural and aesthetic value, it would be better to increase subsidies for a school travel card and reduce its cost for parents to 500 roubles a month; and instead of architectural lighting it would be possible to repair the architectural heritage – the former building of the medical courses – which has virtually turned into ruins, and  instead of the propaganda newspaper Novgorod it would be possible to build apartments for large families.

Surprisingly, the Mayor was very much concerned by the attitude of the party and the Yabloko faction towards the special military operation, rather than the budget for which he is responsible, or the risks of its non-fulfillment. “What are you proposing – to surrender to the “collective West”?!” Mayor Alexander Rozbaum asked Anna Cherepanova as the head of the Yabloko faction. “No, we propose to stop killing people and start pursuing a smart, peace-loving policy in the interests of our citizens,” Cherepanova answered.

Anna CHEREPANOVA

is a member of the Federal Bureau of Yabloko,

Chair of the Novgorod regional branch of the party.

Deputy of the Novgorod Duma