Audit Committee: Significant Parks in Krasnoyarsk Provide Services With Violations
Rewritten Article:
In a city bustling with over 300 public spaces, the Municipal Authority Unit (MAU) "KrasGorPark" has its work cut out for it. The auditors, after an overdue examination, have unveiled several controversies in its operations.
Last year, the MAU was responsible for managing 21 public spaces, including 7 parks, 6 squares, 4 plazas, and 4 riversides. However, according to the inspection by the Audit Committee of the Krasnoyarsk City Council, the MAU fell short in various aspects, such as establishing unified city standards for the design and maintenance of public spaces, implementing a centralized system for managing public areas, and creating a long-term development strategy for parks and squares.
The current level of accommodating city residents with public spaces is 19% lower than the prescribed standard, according to the City Building Norms and Regulations (SNIP).
Moreover, the MAU lacks a clear development vision, which they plan to start drafting only in 2026. 11 public spaces currently have no future development plans. With seven deputies, including a deputy director for development, the questions arose: why are such situations arising?
For the years 2022-2024, the MAU's income totaled 1.7 billion rubles. The majority of this comes from subsidies, accounting for 90% of the revenue in 2022. The auditor noted that the significant share of income generated from revenue-producing activities is absent, limiting the MAU's ability to grow without budgetary subsidies.
According to the MAU, their income has dwindled, primarily due to the transfer of paid parking lots to the Department of Urban Improvement and Development (UDIB) by the decision of the antimonopoly authorities: in 2022, the self-generated revenue yielded 90 million rubles, whereas in the following year, it plummeted to 73 million. In this scenario, the financial results (revenue minus expenses) in 2024 amounted to 800 thousand, while in 2023, the figure was around 2 million.
One of the reasons for this financial predicament is the money-losing skating rink on Freedom Square, which incurred losses amounting to 600 thousand in 2023, and 1.5 million rubles in 2024. To maintain this skating rink, the MAU relies on self-generated funds. The revenues generated from the sale of souvenirs and ice cream sales during the summer season amount to no more than a million. The majority of the income comes from rental agreements.
Additionally, the MAU's tree data has been called into question, as there is no verified information about the number of green plants, and their passports are not being developed. There are no records for the trees and shrubs on five city improvement sites.
There were also concerns about the storage of acquired attractions meant for Central Park in 2023. These attractions remain in dismantled form and are stored on the ground without protection, potentially posing risks of property damage and harm to the city valued at 90.8 million rubles.
Currently, the issue of the attractions is being addressed.
On several land parcels of "KrasGorPark," the auditors found assets owned by third parties, such as pavilions, attractions, and so forth, without rental land agreements. The MAU has begun addressing this issue: for example, they have filed a lawsuit demanding the return of 8 plots and 23 pieces of property and debt collection worth 4.86 million rubles from OOO "Green World" for the park Prischepka.
"At the same time, in the aforementioned calculation, more than 16.4 million, subject to compensation, have not been included," revealed Gabaluk.
There were also questions about the self-service electric scooter parking present on most objects of "KrasGorPark." A significant number of scooters, more than 150, were found on the central embankment alone. However, the locations for parking scooters have not been legally defined, and there are no contracts.
Deputies have expressed specific concern regarding this issue. It was discovered that the management of such parking should fall under UDIB, to which the city council had recommended addressing the matter.
The Audit Committee also scrutinized the procurement processes, selecting six contracts worth 286 million for audit. There, too, violations were found. For instance, in the competition for improving the Kirowsky Square, contrary to the law, the winning bid was awarded to a collective bid with participation from 10 legal entities. Given the second participant's bid price, the costs for implementing the contract were overestimated by 10 million rubles.
In conclusion, the auditor informed that work has begun to rectify the issues with the MAU, and it has provided a plan outlining how to address the violations with specified deadlines.
The deputy head of the Department of Social Development, Andrei Sigida, came to the defense of the MAU during the meeting. He argued that the MAU faces a colossal workload, yet it manages to maintain all public spaces of high quality and without major problems. According to Sigida, some of the shortcomings have already been addressed, and two employees received reprimands and wage deductions.
In addition, Sigida revealed a preliminary decision to transform "KrasGorPark." The economic activities will be transferred to other structures, and a "Directorate for Mass Events" would be created.
"Currently, we are conducting financial calculations and economic evaluations, which will lead to a shift towards DGH and UDIB," explained Sigida. "However, the economic activities, for which the majority of the observations are made, will be transferred to the structures that professionally and more comprehensively handle the management, exploitation, and cleaning of public spaces."
The final decision on the division of functions of the MAU is likely to be made this year.
(Image: "KrasGorPark," DELA)
- The audit report revealed that the Municipal Authority Unit (MAU) "KrasGorPark" lacks a clear development vision, which could potentially impact the future development of general-news topics related to city parks and public spaces in Krasnoyarsk.
- In the report, concerns were raised about the financial management of the MAU, particularly the significant share of unrealized income from revenue-producing activities in finance news, thereby limiting their ability to grow without budgetary subsidies.
