Penza, 14 November 2014. PenzaNews. Penza City Duma deputies discussed the draft budget for 2015 and the planning period of 2016-2017 during the meeting of the standing commission on public utilities, landscaping and ecology, which was held on Friday, November 14.

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Olga Zavyalkina, head of the city financial department, presented the report and stressed that Penza budget 2015 remains socially oriented — 64.3% will be used for social and cultural development and maintenance.

However, she said that some fields will be optimized — such as the housing sector that will be allocated 1,693 million rubles, 348 million rubles less than in 2014.

Viktor Vorobyev, chairman of the standing commission of Penza City Duma, asked to explain why certain areas were left without funding.

The head of the city financial department explained that they plan to reduce the construction, lighting, maintenance and public road repair expenses, as well as costs of maintenance of city bathhouses.

Penza head Viktor Kuvaytsev drew attention to the fact that so far, this is a draft.

In particular, he pointed out the need to carefully examine the situation with public bathhouses.

“It is, perhaps, the only social field today where we can also support people without facilities. We need to consider the issue in detail. This also applies to lighting, maintenance, and cleaning of city streets. If there are serious remarks, speak out. We may revise both revenue and expenditure parts,” Viktor Kuvaytsev said.

He added that there will be a public hearing on the city draft budget on December 16.