During a working trip to the Zhytomyr region, the President of Ukraine visited the Vysoke united territorial community of the Chernyakhiv district, which was one of the first to be established in the region. A small community with an administrative center in the village of Vysoke unites five villages. The population of the UTC is 2700 people.
In five years of its existence, the Vysoke UTC has become one of the pioneers in the implementation of decentralization reform.
Residents of the community are implementing projects that even some large UTCs cannot afford. These include ensuring proper transport connection between the community center and Zhytomyr, reducing the cost of bus travel, street lighting in all inhabited localities of the community, switching to alternative fuels and road repair.
“The community budget before the unification of three village councils amounted to UAH 900,000. This is only for the payment of wages to employees. No development could be envisaged. And in 2019, we received 13.3 million of our own revenues. And if you take into account the educational subvention, the community has 21 million. We have enough funds to implement projects,” Head of Vysoke village Mykola Barduk said.
The projects are implemented not on the principle of proximity to the community center, but in the areas where it is necessary. Funds are distributed evenly among all settlements. The largest revenues to the budget of Vysoke village council are provided by several agricultural companies.
"You want to change the country, and we want to change the life of our community," the community leader told the President.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that decentralization is a story of great success for many communities in Ukraine, and the state should draw attention to this.
"If successful communities also teach others how to act, how to effectively manage the common resources, it will be a success story of our entire state," the President stressed.
