The Irkutsk budget has been drafted for three years for the first time and is almost 87 percent program spending, making it more transparent and controllable. It includes funds for higher public sector pay, education, healthcare, kindergartens, sports facilities, road repairs, and city improvement. Special attention is given to social services and reducing the budget deficit from 6 percent in 2013 to 3 percent in 2015.

“Almost 87% of the expenditure side of the budget has been formed on a program-target basis, which makes it more understandable and transparent, subject to control by the representative body and the public.
The draft budget has been formed for the first time for a three-year period. The revenue side of the city budget for 2013 is set at 12 billion 218 million rubles, which is 199 million rubles (or 1.7%) higher than the expected revenue in 2012. For 2014, the planned figures will amount to 12 billion 498 million rubles, and for 2015 – 13 billion 061 million rubles.
The increase in the city budget’s revenues is expected due to growth in tax receipts - mainly due to the personal income tax and land tax.
In 2013, the city budget’s revenues include financial assistance from the regional budget in the amount of 3 billion 050 million rubles. Over the next two years, the volume of interbudgetary transfers is planned at practically the same level and amounts to about 2 billion 800 million rubles. The budget has been formed on the basis of 19 long-term target programs developed in accordance with the program for the Comprehensive Social and Economic Development of the city for 2013-2019. Program expenditures account for 87% of budget funds.
The budget provides 257 million rubles for increasing the salaries of employees in the budget sector. What is especially important is that salaries will also be increased for teachers of preschool educational institutions and supplementary education institutions in Irkutsk. Their pay will be brought up to the level of the average salary in the general education sector in the region. Further news of the day - financing for increasing the salaries of employees of preschool educational institutions will be carried out exclusively from the budget of the city of Irkutsk.
Starting January 1, 2013, municipal healthcare institutions will be financed mainly from compulsory health insurance funds. Separate state powers in the field of public health protection have been transferred to the city. About 400 million rubles annually are provided from the regional budget for their support. In addition, 174 million rubles will be allocated from the city budget next year to complete construction and equip with modern medical equipment the new building of the City Perinatal Center and the operating block of the Ivano-Matreninskaya Children's Clinical Hospital, to carry out major repairs of medical institutions, and to implement measures for the prevention of infectious diseases.
Expenditures on the development of the city’s social sphere over 3 years will amount to more than 24 billion rubles (8 billion rubles annually).
A substantial increase in expenditures is planned in the field of education, within the framework of the program “Irkutsk - Territory of Childhood.”
1 billion 519 million rubles over three years (2013 – 534 million rubles, 2014 – 501 million rubles, 2015 – 484 million rubles) will be allocated for current and major repairs of buildings, restoration and installation of fencing around territories, and the purchase of modern teaching aids, licensed software, furniture, and visual materials. One of the important expenditure areas in the draft budget is the construction of social facilities, for which 2 billion 779 million rubles are provided (2013 – 1 billion 062 million rubles, 2014 – 754 million rubles, 2015 – 963 million rubles), taking into account financial assistance from the regional budget in the amount of 209 million rubles.
Next year, 218 million rubles will be allocated for the construction of extensions to kindergartens No. 132 and No. 136, and the purchase of buildings to accommodate two more preschool education institutions. It is planned to complete the construction of kindergartens on Baikalskaya Street, Mukhina Street, and in the Yubileyny microdistrict, and to begin construction of a kindergarten on Novatorov Street. Work is planned on designing the construction of a preschool institution on Rosa Luxemburg Street and a school on Bagration Street.
Expenditures on the construction of sports facilities have been significantly increased. Next year, reconstruction of the Vympel sports complex is planned, with costs amounting to about 52 million rubles. It is planned to begin construction of an indoor swimming pool on 18th Sovetsky Lane in Novo-Lenino, and to prepare documentation for the construction of two physical culture and recreation complexes: in the Yubileyny microdistrict with a universal sports hall and on Ryabikov Boulevard with a swimming pool. Construction of a modular sports hall near School No. 43 will be completed, and construction of 3 sports grounds is planned (in the Leninsky and Sverdlovsky districts and in the Pervomaysky microdistrict). Over three years, 429 million rubles will be allocated from the budget (2013 - 24 million rubles, 2014 - 225 million rubles, 2015 - 180 million rubles) for the development of design and estimate documentation and the construction of sports modules for 5 schools (Nos. 26, 29, 63, 64, 68).
In accordance with the amendments made to the Law “On Education,” the city budget for the first time provides funds to support non-governmental organizations – private kindergartens and child care groups implementing the main preschool education program.
In 2013, budget support for the cost of meals for schoolchildren entitled to benefits will be increased to 42 rubles 36 kopecks per person. It is planned to allocate 90 million rubles annually for these purposes, including 20 million rubles from subvention funds from the regional budget.
For the maintenance and development of the city economy over the next three years, 8 billion 120 million rubles are provided (2013 – 2 billion 697 million rubles, 2014 – 2 billion 742 million rubles, 2015 – 2 billion 681 million rubles), which is almost a quarter of all city budget expenditures.
Within the framework of the long-term target program “Roads of the City of Irkutsk,” more than 5 billion rubles are planned in the three-year budget (2013 – 1 billion 752 million rubles, 2014 – 1 billion 750 million rubles, 2015 – 1 billion 745 million rubles). These are expenditures for the maintenance of city roads, bridges and overpasses, road infrastructure facilities, for the repair of intra-block areas of the city, and for graveling and paving streets in the private sector.
299 million rubles (2013 – 125 million rubles, 2014 – 2015 – 87 million rubles annually) in subsidy funds from the regional budget will be allocated for road repairs, major repairs of Radishcheva Street, and reconstruction of the overpass at the transport interchange section of the Irkutsk-Osa-Ust-Uda highway.
As part of the implementation of the long-term target program “Eco-Logical City,” expenditures will be financed for the maintenance of city parks, fountains and green spaces, the installation of new playgrounds (91 units) and repair of existing playgrounds, and measures to improve the environmental situation and protect city forests.
For the first time, it is planned to allocate budget funds for the improvement and maintenance of specially protected natural areas created in 2012 - “Sinyushina Gora” and “Kaiskaya Grove” - and for the development of a general scheme for cleaning up the city territory.
To comprehensively address the problems of improving the sector of individual housing development, an appropriate long-term target program has been adopted, for which more than 316 million rubles are provided (2013 – 100 million rubles, 2014 – 105 million rubles, 2015 – 111 million rubles). Using these funds, over three years, design and construction of water pipelines (142 million rubles), major repairs and construction of outdoor lighting facilities (131 million rubles), and organized removal of household waste from the private sector with the installation of container sites (more than 43 million rubles) will be carried out.
In the coming three years, major repairs of roofs and facades, modernization of passenger elevators in apartment buildings, and installation of outdoor lighting facilities will continue to be carried out from the city budget. 338 million rubles are planned to be allocated for the implementation of the relevant program (2013–2014 – 111 million rubles annually, 2015 – 116 million rubles).
Over three years, 489 million rubles will be allocated for the resettlement of citizens from dilapidated housing stock (2013 – 168 million rubles, 2014 – 210 million rubles, 2015 – 111 million rubles), taking into account financial assistance from the regional budget (more than 30 million rubles annually). Within the framework of the long-term target program “Housing,” social benefits for the construction and purchase of housing in the amount of about 188 million rubles will be provided from the city budget over three years, which will make it possible to improve the housing conditions of almost 250 families. To solve the housing problem, it is planned to build a municipal dormitory in the Leninsky district of the city and prepare project documentation for the construction of a dormitory in the Kuibyshevsky district.
One of the tasks of the city’s budget policy for the coming years, in order to ensure the long-term balance and sustainability of the budget, is to reduce the budget deficit.
In the presented draft budget, the deficit will be reduced from 6% in 2013 to 3% in 2015. The city budget parameters, the rapporteur noted, make it possible to fully ensure all current expenditure obligations with real revenue sources, and also create conditions for the further development of the city and for improving the efficiency of the economy and the budget sector.
Based on materials from the press service of the Irkutsk City Duma