An interview with Yuriy Guldas, head of the Malovyskivska urban amalgamated hromada of the Kirovohrad Oblast took place on 29 October at the press centre of the Ukrainian Crisis Media Centre within the frames of the project of UCMC-DOBRE “Speakers of Hromadas”.

Malovykskivska urban AH is one of the first in the oblast and among 159 AHs that were formed in 2015. Its ten settlements have a population of 14 thousand inhabitants.

“We believed in this reform and amalgamated among the first. Now our residents see the achievements that we can boast about not only to our neighbours, but also to those who visit us,” says Yuriy Guldas.

The AH budget has tripled after amalgamation. And the trend continues: the AH had about UAH 33 million on its account last year, this year's figure is up to UAH 47 million.

 

 

According to the AH head, a significant share of the budget is made by the personal income tax and excise tax. Therefore, hromada is now more interested in legalising working places.

The Malovyskivska AH is actively equipping facilities for people with disabilities.

Now the AH settlement are forced to look for an alternative to coal heating. And they saw it in electric heating.

Meanwhile, for additional savings and observance of the temperature regime all educational institutions installed energy-saving windows and insulate the premises.

 

 

The head of the Malovyskivska AH says that decentralisation will not bring wonders to hromadas one day. The first thing provided by decentralisation is not money, but a change in the management system. To get a result, we have to work, - convinces Yuriu Guldas. According to him, the amount of funds is less important than the ability to correctly allocate them.

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