In Lviv, four municipal road maintenance and repair enterprises have been authorised to enter into loan agreements so that, in the event of delays in Treasury payments, they can pay employees’ wages on time. This was announced by the First Deputy Mayor of Lviv, Andriy Moskalenko.
The decision concerns the enterprises “Road Maintenance and Repair Enterprise of Halytskyi District”, “Road Maintenance and Repair Enterprise of Zaliznychnyi District”, “Road Maintenance and Repair Enterprise of Lychakivskyi District” and “Road Maintenance and Repair Enterprise of Shevchenkivskyi District”. Each of them will be able to take out a loan of up to UAH 3 million to replenish working capital.
The option of using an overdraft has been provided for — a short-term loan that allows a temporary shortfall of funds in the account to be covered. According to Andriy Moskalenko, this decision is intended to prevent situations where, due to delays in payments by the Treasury, street cleaners and other municipal service workers might be left without their wages being paid on time.
“Therefore, in order to avoid situations in future where street cleaners might be left without their wages, we are adopting this decision. It will enable the municipal road maintenance enterprises to make prompt use of an overdraft and pay people their wages on time, without breaching the law,” explained First Deputy Mayor of Lviv Andriy Moskalenko.
He stressed that the city, for its part, transfers funds for wages without delay, but that the suspension of part of the payments by the State Treasury Service of Ukraine creates risks of late payments. At present, some payments, in particular for the wages of street cleaners and public transport drivers, have already been unblocked, but problems in other areas remain.
The City Council notes that the decision on loans is a preventive measure: the mechanism for raising funds will be used only in emergency situations, when delays in Treasury payments genuinely threaten the timely payment of wages.
Due to the blocking of part of the payments, particularly on the eve of the heating season, a tense situation has arisen with the settlements of municipal enterprises in Lviv and other cities of Ukraine. The Association of Ukrainian Cities has appealed to the Government demanding the immediate unblocking of community payments. In Lviv, because of delays in wage payments, some street cleaners have already started to resign from their jobs.