When I was elected, I was given 5 years by law to implement my plans. But it is impossible for a third of this period to fulfill everything and even a third part of what you conceived, what you dreamed about ...
In 2006, I inherited very big problems: an almost empty treasury and the suspension of all important projects for Kiev residents.
But thanks to thorough work in 2008 the budget of Kyiv became a record one. It has increased 5 times compared to the 2005 budget: 25 billion hryvnia against 5 billion hryvnia.
We have put a barrier on the way of embezzlement of budgetary funds. A significant part of the 20 billion hryvnia increase in budget revenues was brought out of the shadows. We managed to increase funding for all key areas of urban life by several times! Expenditure on the development of housing and communal services in the capital has grown almost 3 times, on medicine - 2 times, on education - 2.4 times, on the construction of the subway - 5 times.
At the same time, it so happened that in our country the most socially unprotected people are pensioners, veterans, the disabled, and orphans. Since 2006, on my initiative, municipal allowances have been paid to all categories of Kiev residents who needed support. The city-wide integrated program "Turbota" covered more than 600 thousand residents of Kyiv. In 2007, about 450 million UAH were allocated from the Kyiv budget for monthly municipal additional payments to pensioners, and in 2008 budget allocations for these purposes increased to 800 million UAH.
In 2007, monthly municipal pension supplements were accrued to non-working pensioners who received up to 800 UAH of state pension. In 2008, I managed to ensure that both non-working and working pensioners, whose main state pension did not exceed 1,175 hryvnias (up to 2.5 living wages), received monthly municipal pensions supplements from the city budget. It was a breakthrough for Ukraine!
In addition to municipal pensions supplements, we were the first in the country to establish monthly municipal allowances for people having important and noble professions - doctors, teachers, social workers and cultural workers. Thus, the amount of funds allocated from the budget to finance programs for the social security of Kiev increased 5 times for the period from 2006 to 2008.
In 2008, 1.8 million hryvnias were paid as municipal bonuses to the salaries of teachers who lead art circles and sports clubs for children. For teachers, a monthly municipal supplement was established in the amount of 20% of their official salary. 48,000 schoolchildren from low-income families were provided with free breakfasts, and free food was provided to vocational school students. In addition, in 2007, 62% of Kyiv children under the age of 6 together with their parents went in health camps with the money from the city budget.
As for physicians, a municipal supplement for them was established in the amount of up to 50% of their official salary. In addition, as part of another initiative of mine, a program was launched to provide Kyiv teachers and doctors with social housing.
As for the social card of a Kiev citizen, it was designed to help poor residents of the capital save the little money they were paid. The idea of it was to give a discount on a product or service in the amount of about 10%. The card was supposed to be used in stores, pharmacies, hairdressers, laundries, dry cleaners, and other service establishments.
I also understood and still understand that our children are our future. So, as the Kyiv mayor, I did my best to support children in every possible way. I regularly met with the youth of Kyiv, consulted with them, hired the best and most gifted graduates of the capital's universities to work at the KSCA.
No one will argue with the fact that learning is a hard work. And every work should be rewarded. That is why I founded scholarships and awards for the best students of the capital. Every year, a special commission selected fellows who received monetary bonuses from me. In 2008, I awarded 150 scholarships and granted 60 awards to the smartest, hardest working and most talented students.
In addition, I planned to establish a new scholarship of the Kyiv mayor - a scholarship with introduction to the civil service. It was planned to give it to 200 best students of Kyiv who were talented, successful in their studies and in public life, and were willing to work in the structural divisions of the Kyiv city state administration.
Everything that I briefly tried to describe to you in the ideas and results of my initiatives shows that my heart was with the people of Kiev, and it belongs to them!