The communal lobby launched a war for a billion in Sredneuralsk. Kowalczyk is warned of his resignation

United Russia is forming new unions in the city duma. In Sredneuralsk, the adoption of the municipal budget for 2023 is being delayed. A city with a population of 25,000 runs the risk of being left without funds for the construction of new treatment facilities, on the creation of which the construction of new districts is critically dependent, and other co-financing from the regional budget.

The City Duma criticizes the work of the mayor’s office, pointing out the failure to fulfill the declared parameters for a number of articles and a deficit of 72.6% of their own budget revenues, and the deputies openly declare the possibility of making a second unsatisfactory assessment of the activities of the head Alexander Kovalchik. The mayor’s office associates the conflict with the desire of individual representatives of the Duma and persons close to them to gain control over the construction of sewage treatment plants, for which 1 billion rubles are planned to be allocated during 2023-2024. Interest in the project, according to officials and individual deputies, is shown by the structures of businessman Dmitry Lipin, who heads the local branch of United Russia. Representatives of the regional authorities have already intervened in the situation, while gently warning the opposition-minded in relation to Alexander Kovalchik thought about the consequences of the disruption of the budget process.

Consideration of the budget of Sredneuralsk in the second reading is tentatively scheduled for January 26. However, the issue has not yet been included in the agenda, and the City Duma apparatus indicates the absence of the necessary documents for this.

“On January 19, at an extraordinary meeting, the conclusion of the public hearings that took place on January 9 will be considered. There were no draft amendments to them. After considering this issue, it will be possible to consider the budget, ”explained in the apparatus of the City Duma.

However, the conclusion of public hearings, as well as the issue of adopting the budget, could have been considered earlier – at the Duma meeting on January 12, but then they were not included in the agenda.

In the first reading, the budget was adopted at the end of 2022 only after the intervention of the regional authorities. The local Duma criticized the document, which secured income of 1.098 million rubles, expenses of 1.269 billion and a deficit of 171 million, which was proposed to be closed at the expense of account balances. They were formed, according to the deputies, as a result of the failure to implement a number of projects scheduled for 2022.

“Contracts for the construction of treatment facilities and improvement of the coastline were unilaterally terminated. There are balances of funds allocated for road repairs and the development of the city’s lighting system. The issue of building a new exit from the city has not been resolved. The city bath cannot be reopened for two years. First, it was closed for repairs, then the pandemic began, and the municipal unitary enterprise, on the balance sheet of which this facility was located, went bankrupt, ”deputy Andrei Kasyanenko lists some of the questions on which criticism of the mayor’s office is based.

The mayor’s office, however, indicates intentions to reduce the budget deficit, which is 72.6% of the municipality’s own revenues for 2023. At the same time, according to the municipalities, the indicators of income and expenditure will be adjusted for the second reading. The main part of the income – 688 million rubles, as before, is planned to be received from the regional budget.

“We were warned (representatives of the governor’s administration) that if the budget is not approved in the first reading, the city will lose 200-300 million rubles from the region,” says one of the deputies.

However, the approval of the budget in the first reading secured only the possibility of providing regional funds. The actual adjustment of funding limits will occur after the adoption of the document as a whole. In the meantime, the municipality is financed on a monthly basis at the rate of 1/12 of the total volume of own expenses.

“Money is only for salaries and housing and communal services. For example, a city stadium in winter requires more funds – for the bay of the skating rink and its cleaning from snow. Ice hockey matches are played at the stadium. Now we have to somehow get out, ”shares the source of the publication, close to the mayor’s office of Sredneuralsk.

The delay in the adoption of the budget by the Duma in the administration is considered an attempt to put pressure on the head by certain groups of influence that received the support of the majority of the Duma deputies, including its speaker Veniamin Biktashev. The chairman of a thought through employees of the device has refused comments.

“While preparing the budget for the first reading, the deputies actively asked questions about the city UKS. This structure was created a year ago and received part of the powers of the Housing and Public Utilities Department, which is headed by MP Arsen Abajan. In particular, it was proposed, allegedly to save money, to reduce the rates of a lawyer, chief engineer and other employees in the UKS, and in this case the functions of the customer of construction work would have to be returned to the UZHKH, ”says the interlocutor of the publication in the mayor’s office.

UKS in the current year should organize tenders for the construction of new treatment facilities in Sredneuralsk. The operating sewage treatment plants have long exhausted their resources, the owners of garden plots nearby regularly suffer from sewage flooding, and builders cannot obtain permits to commission new facilities due to the lack of free treatment facilities. The operating facility, moreover, poses a danger – in August 2022, two employees died from gas vapor poisoning while pressure testing and cleaning the drainage and sewer system.

Local authorities have already tried to build a new facility. In 2019, Sredneuralskoye Construction Management LLC, close to the ex-head Andrei Zashlyapin, received a contact for this. However, during the execution of the contract, the contractor decided to adjust the design documentation and increase the capacity of the facility to 15,000 cubic meters. It was proposed to increase the cost from 625 million to 1.8 billion rubles. After the intervention of the prosecutor’s office, the contract with the contractor was terminated, Zashlyapin resigned, and in 2021 he was elected to the City Duma.

With Oleksandr Kovalchik coming to the administration of the municipality, the mayor’s office announced the need to build a treatment plant with a capacity of 9,000 cubic meters per day and re-ordered the project. The total cost in it was adjusted to 1.28 billion rubles, taking into account the 280 million rubles already invested in the construction. Preparations could have already begun for the tender for the selection of a contractor for the construction of new sewage treatment plants, but the process is hindered by the protracted procedure for adopting the budget.Veniamin Biktashev and Dmitry Lipin

“The head of the local branch of United Russia, Dmitry Lipin, has a great influence on the Duma. His companies receive municipal contracts. For example, the Ural Construction Transport Company cleans the city, and the main part of the housing stock is served by the management company REMP Sredneuralsk. In the Duma, Lipin is supported by party deputies and the head of the faction Abajan, as well as several self-nominated candidates. Now Lipin’s interest is probably connected with the desire to get a contract for the construction of sewage treatment plants, ”an interlocutor of the publication, close to the mayor’s office, shares his opinion.

The sources of Pravda UrFO in the governor’s administration are inclined to the same version. So far, representatives of the regional authorities are trying to bring the Duma and the mayor’s office to an agreement, mainly through explanatory conversations. At the same time, it is far from always possible to convince deputies. Representatives of the Duma in personal conversations indicate that Kovalchik has one negative assessment of his activities. A second “failure” is possible after the head’s report in May 2023, for which the members of the representative body have already begun preparations.