Kuzbass Officials Slash Spending as Budget Deficit Worsens

The Kuzbass authorities sent recommendations to municipalities to reduce budget spending on civil servant salaries as part of optimizing government apparatus costs due to financial problems in the treasury, the press service of the regional administration told NGS42.RU in response to a query.

We asked in our query to specify what exactly the optimization of the government apparatus entails, which, according to the governor, should help combat the huge budget deficit.

Employees reported that limits on administrative maintenance costs had been set, but did not specify the amounts. We also did not receive a clear answer on what officials had to give up for the sake of savings.

«With the overall reduction in expenditure, costs for all purchases of goods (works and services) and other spending items have been proportionally reduced,» the press service wrote.

Optimization recommendations were sent to all municipalities in the region — expenses were cut there as well, according to the response. We did not get an answer on how much was previously spent from the budget on maintaining the government apparatus and how funding will change by 2026.

Last year, regional governor Ilya Seredyuk repeatedly stated that the optimization due to the huge budget deficit amid the coal crisis also affected officials. According to him, the wage fund in the administration was cut by 10%, and other expenses by 25%.

In Novokuznetsk, as NGS42.RU found out, in 2026 the amounts for ensuring the work of city authorities were also reduced, but not for separate government agencies. A huge part of these expenses is usually the transportation of the mayor.

Before the New Year, Kuzbass officials were also advised to forgo corporate parties due to the special military operation.