Yakushyntsi is a small yet rapidly developing municipality near Vinnytsia. Its geography has its advantages and challenges: proximity to the oblast capital is driving active development in the area, even though there’s a national highway, the M-21 Vystupovychi–Zhytomyr–Mohyliv-Podilskyi, running through the municipality. The non-stop, heavy traffic and speeding have led to a high accident rate in this area for years.
“The high number of road accidents was a chronic problem: everyone drives recklessly and exceeds the speed limit,” explains Liudmyla Maksymchuk, the Head of the Finance Department of Yakushyntsi Village Council. “We discussed what could be done to reduce the risks: we contacted the police and looked at accident statistics. We wanted these roads to be safer for people.”
In response to the need to make the municipality’s roads safer, an initiative was launched to install automatic traffic violation detection systems. At the same time, the municipality was aware that, by law, part of the fines should be credited to the local budget. In practice, however, it turned out that this mechanism was not working properly, which is where the experts from U-LEAD with Europe came to the rescue.
A long journey of agreements, technical solutions and patience
Local authorities decided to take action, systematically and in partnership with state bodies. The initiative kicked off with an analysis of traffic accident statistics and a formal request to the State Agency for Infrastructure Restoration and Development of Ukraine to install automatic photo and video recording systems for traffic violations within the municipality’s populated areas.
“We knew that safety was not just about convenience, but about people’s lives. Something had to change, and we started with what we could influence - with the initiative,” says Liudmyla Maksymchuk.
Setting up the cameras took a lot of time and effort. They had to get approval from the road owner and the patrol police, as well as sort out the electricity and Internet connections.
“Not every section can be equipped with a camera,” explains Ms Maksymchuk. “They check for access to electricity, whether it is feasible to connect to the grid and whether it is safe for installation. We cooperated with the police and technical experts, as well as conducted on-site inspections. All in all, we managed to set up four cameras, with two more in the process of getting approved.”
When changes have a twofold effect: making things safer and more profitable
Installing the traffic recording systems had two immediate results. Firstly, according to reports from the municipality, the number of road accidents has decreased significantly since the cameras were installed. Drivers are now more cautious, since they know that speeding is automatically recorded in areas with cameras. Secondly, the municipality received a new source of revenue.
According to Article 64.1.37-2 of the Budget Code of Ukraine, 10% of administrative fines for traffic violations recorded automatically are directed to the budgets of those municipalities where the cameras are located.
However, at the early stages of implementation, the municipality encountered an unexpected obstacle – the lack of technical capacity to allocate these funds to the local budget. Even the account for recording them did not exist.
“We saw that the revenue should be coming in, but the mechanism was not working. That’s when we turned to the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in the Vinnytsia Oblast for advice on how to get this process started,” says Liudmyla.
The problem faced by Yakushyntsi was typical for many municipalities in Ukraine: by law, the funds should have been allocated to local budgets, but in practice, they were retained at the state level. This is when the U-LEAD with Europe experts looked into the situation and brought the uneven distribution of funds to the public’s attention. Finally, after appeals and consultations, the mechanism was put into action.
“When municipalities were granted the right to receive 10% of fines for traffic violations, the system was effectively non-functional. The money remained at the state budget level, and municipalities – even those where traffic cameras were installed — received nothing.
U-LEAD with Europe experts looked into this problem, made the data public and reached out to government agencies. After that, the payments were credited to the appropriate accounts – the budgets of municipalities.
That is how the system started working, and now municipalities such as Yakushyntsi actually receive their share of the fines. This is a great example of how analytical work and persistence on the ground can change government practices,” says Inna Sviatna, an Adviser on Municipal Finances and Management at the Regional Office of U-LEAD with Europe in Vinnytsia Oblast.
Through this joint effort, in 2022, the municipality received a one-time reimbursement of nearly UAH 3 million for the previous year – a period when the funds had not yet been credited. Since then, the system has been operating smoothly.
“This year, we expect to receive over UAH 5.5 million in these revenues,” says Liudmyla Maksymchuk. “We even predict a minor surplus. These are revenues that no longer require additional efforts from the municipality, while actually bolstering the budget bottom line.”
It all started with a simple idea – to reduce accident rates and make traffic safer for people. Additional revenues to the budget are a bonus that has strengthened local capabilities. There is another important outcome – the feeling that the municipality can make a difference and change things for the better.
