Legal requirements and approaches to drawing up budget programme passports were discussed at the info session organised by the U-LEAD Programme for the municipalities of the Donetsk, Sumy, Kharkiv and Cherkasy oblasts.
In particular, the event focused on the cooperation between administrators in the process of developing and approving a budget programme passport as well as the main requirements and deadlines for their preparation. The info session also discussed how to define the goals and objectives of budget programmes as well as approaches to the development of their effective and gender-sensitive indicators.
The mission and tasks of programme-specific and target budgeting, as well as its importance for managing budget funds under martial law, were also covered.
According to Maryna Honcharenko, Municipal Finance and Management Advisor of the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Kharkiv oblast, the deadlines for drawing up basic budget documents generally remain unchanged under martial law. Chief administrators should keep in mind that within 30 days after the decision on the local budget comes into force, the draft passport must be developed and submitted for approval to the local financial body.
“In turn, the local financial body will approve the draft passport within 10 days upon its receipt and send it to the chief administrator for approval. Within 45 days upon entry into force of the decision on the local budget, these passports must be approved by the orders of the chief administrators,” the Advisor said.
She pointed out that since Article 28(5) of the Budget Code is suspended until martial law is lifted, the chief administrators do not have to publish budget programme passports. In most cases, however, it is worth doing so if technically possible.