Recently, residents of the Chuguiv community received payments with new tariffs, which were established by the KP "Chuguivskyi Communal Complex" for its garbage collection services. Of course, consumers of these services had quite a few questions. The most numerous of them are answered by the deputy mayor for executive bodies of the council, Konstantin Barmin.
– The first question is – why have tariffs increased, and quite significantly?
– First of all, I would like to note that we maintained the existing tariff for solid waste management until the last moment, as we understood that a full-scale war was not the time to impose additional burdens on the pockets of the population. Moreover, in 2023, we compensated our municipal enterprises for losses due to the discrepancy in tariffs for a total amount of up to UAH 50 million from the city budget, and thus supported both them and consumers.
But the war has been going on for four years, the economic situation of the country's communities is gradually deteriorating, and the tariff components, on the contrary, are constantly growing. In fact, the Chuguyiv Municipal Complex is gradually plunging into an economic crisis due to the tariff not corresponding to its real cost.
Let's take fuel: in 2021, when the previous tariff was approved, it cost 27 UAH. Now it is 55! The minimum wage was 4700 UAH, now it is 8100 UAH, and by the end of the year it is planned to increase it to 11300 UAH.
We, of course, could not watch as the existing tariffs actually killed the enterprise, causing the community to simply drown in garbage. There is also no money to compensate for tariffs in the local budget for 2025, which is extremely limited in all respects. So an unpopular but only possible decision was made - to bring the tariffs into line with reality.
– The emergence of a separate tariff for the so-called management of bulky household waste caused a significant resonance. What is it?
– I would like to note right away that the cost of removing oversized garbage was calculated earlier, before the current tariff increase, and was UAH 1.68. This was done in accordance with the approved norms back in 2017, because even then people carried furniture, building materials, etc. to the containers. However, in 2023-2024, the government adopted two resolutions at once - No. 1031 and No. 835, according to which, when forming the tariff, the municipal enterprise is obliged to separately allocate a tariff for the collection, transportation and disposal of household garbage, and separately - for oversized garbage. Thus, the cost of removing oversized garbage has currently been calculated and is UAH 6.80.
However, this is far from the main and most expensive component of the tariff for garbage removal. For example, 27 UAH in the new tariff is allocated for the so-called waste removal, that is, work with them at the landfill. This is a whole complex of measures, which includes landscaping the landfill, installing scales at the entrance, the work of equipment to fill layers of garbage with earth, an environmental tax (for this year alone, the ChKK KP must pay it in the amount of 800 thousand UAH), fire prevention measures at the landfill, an environmental impact assessment, air and soil quality tests, and so on.
Since January 1, 2023, the Chuhuiv community has been using a new landfill for solid waste disposal. We have set ourselves the task of making its handling as civilized as possible and as minimally harmful to the environment as possible, so the company needs funds for appropriate measures. By the way, the route to the new solid waste landfill is twice as long as to the old one in Vasyliv Farm, which ultimately makes the waste transportation component more expensive.
– Residents have many questions about the number and layout of boats for collecting oversized garbage…
– I admit that the existing number of boats is insufficient for the needs of our community. But currently, 480 thousand UAH has been allocated from the city budget for the purchase of 6 more units of this equipment. Unfortunately, this is also not enough, but when the financial opportunity arises, we will return to this issue.
– Residents complain about the imperfections of the existing layout of their location…
– Based on the available equipment, the scheme is more or less optimal, but changes will be made to it if necessary. We meet with the heads of street committees, listen to their advice and comments, and are ready to adjust the boat placement scheme accordingly. As for the wishes of some citizens for the boats to move more actively through different neighborhoods of the community, I would like to note that the cost of installing and removing the boat is 3,200 UAH. That is, if the company changes their location every day to cover a larger area of the community, the cost of removing oversized garbage will also increase significantly. Here we are trying to maintain a balance between the wishes of residents and their solvency.
– Residents who are most dissatisfied with the new tariffs are threatening to terminate contracts for solid waste collection. How would you comment on this?
– The law does not allow terminating a garbage collection contract. There is a household, there is garbage produced by the residents of the household, and therefore it needs to be properly disposed of. Agree, there is no home in the community where there would not be old furniture, household appliances, or waste construction materials that need to be disposed of somewhere.
Like every Chugu resident, I really want our community to be clean and civilized. But life is already so arranged - it's impossible to achieve this for free.