At Hydro-Tech Municipal Company in Nowogrodziec, a loss was reported. We wrote about it in an article on personnel changes at the company in 2024: Former deputy mayor Łuczkowski got a position at the company. Changes at Hydro-Tech.
“In view of the strong public interest and the size of the reported loss, as president of the VE-TO Association I asked Joanna Świder, mayor of Nowogrodziec, to explain the reason for the loss,” says Leszek Socha. “That is a huge amount for such a small company, and we will have to cover it anyway through higher fees for municipal services. The increases have already begun. I asked what circumstances had caused the losses, whether the mayor had carried out explanatory proceedings in the matter as part of her duties, from what funds the loss would be covered, and whether she was considering revising the company agreement in this situation,” Socha adds.
Hydro-Tech and the mayor dodged the answer
Socha did not receive a clear answer to his questions. Officials delayed giving a straightforward response for a long time, and the company’s management also evaded answering.
“I received a letter saying that the mayor did not know the amount of the loss and that I should ask the company itself,” says Socha. “Considering the mayor’s statutory obligations toward the company, I received a disturbing response. I was also given numerous explanations concerning the company’s independence. In the meantime, the chairman of the Civic Coalition’s Nowogrodziec branch addressed a similar question to Hydro-Tech and was refused an answer because the inquiry did not specify the exact amount of the loss. That was enough for the company to refuse to provide any substantive response,” Socha says, describing the difficulties created for him by officials and certain people at the company.
Reserve fund to cover the loss
Socha did not give up and in January 2026 again approached the company on behalf of the VE-TO Association, asking about the amount of the loss incurred in 2023 and what actions had been taken in connection with it.
“This time, the company responded, stating the precise amount of the loss: PLN 1,112,887,” explains Leszek Socha. “It also said that PLN 233,154.33 had been allocated from the reserve fund to cover the loss. That is just legal-accounting ‘gibberish.’ The truth is that a loss occurred and is being covered from savings—that is, from profits, meaning our money, from our pockets. We still have no information about what caused such a high loss in 2023,” Socha adds.
Leszek Socha has some suspicions about how the loss of more than one million zlotys occurred at Hydro-Tech.
“I have three clues,” says Socha. “The first is a change in the municipal authorities, the second is a change in the company’s management, and the third is a change in the company’s Supervisory Board. I am not claiming that the assumptions of my friends and me are valid, but the loss, amounting to PLN 1,112,887, may have been allocated to severance payments or another form of bonus for departing members of Hydro-Tech’s Management Board and members of the Supervisory Board,” Socha speculates.
Appeal to councilors
Leszek Socha appeals to the councilors of the town and municipality of Nowogrodziec.
“We do not need to look for examples of the distortion of local government in Poland; we have the effects here in our own municipality,” Socha adds. “When councilors were deprived of the right to elect the mayor, local government effectively ceased to exist, as did society’s influence over the fate of municipalities. I believe that the Nowogrodziec councilors should clarify the matter of the reported loss by using their powers. They owe this to their voters, in accordance with the oath they took; they owe it to themselves so that they can continue to exercise their mandates with dignity,” Leszek Socha appeals.