The culture department of Petropavlovsk requested 2.5 million tenge for the filming and editing of a video about the ceremony for lighting the city's main Christmas tree in celebration of New Year.
According to the Telegram channel "HALYQSTAN", the request sparked heated debate at a meeting of the city maslikhat. Deputies noted that the estimate submitted by the department was clearly inflated.
It emerged that officials planned to spend 1.5 million tenge on the operation of a mobile television station with three cameras and a live broadcast to a large screen, and another 1.2 million tenge on filming with a quadcopter.
Deputy of the city maslikhat Zakirzhan Mamlyutov called the rates unjustified.
"Just type a query into Google, and the real prices will come up. Basic filming with three cameras costs between 80 and 150 thousand tenge, mid-range is from 150 thousand. Premium filming, like at big concerts in Astana where global stars perform, costs half a million tenge. But you have 1.5 million! That means the price is inflated by about ten times!" – the deputy exclaimed indignantly.
He also noted that even taking into account editing and equipment rental, the cost of quadcopter work does not exceed 40 thousand tenge.
"For that amount of money, you could shoot a serious documentary. Are you having Jennifer Lopez sing? No? Then the price is inflated by 30 to 40 times," – Mamlyutov said.
After the discussion, the deputies proposed removing the videography expenditure item from the budget. Now, coverage of the New Year celebration will, as before, fall to local television channels and news agencies as part of a state contract.