WAILUKU >> It would cost more to register a vehicle on Maui and sewer fees would go up under Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa's budget of about $370 million for fiscal year 2004, unveiled yesterday. Maui mayor eyes fee hikes,
new civic centerBy Gary Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.comIn his budget, Arakawa envisions the development of a new civic center, fairgrounds, convention center and park at a site on Waiko Road and Kuihelani Highway and proposes to spend $14 million to purchase 400 acres of land for the complex. Offices in the current county building on High Street in Wailuku would eventually be moved to the new location between Kahului and Lahaina.
Arakawa said the county building on High Street has insufficient parking, and employees are "packed into cubicles the size of closets."
"Let's face it, this building is literally falling apart. Something has to give," Arakawa said.
Former Mayor James "Kimo" Apana criticized the plan because it would take away business from Wailuku merchants, displace a group of existing agricultural users and snarl traffic on the main thoroughfare between Kahului and Lahaina.
In his first budget message as mayor, Arakawa continued to take jabs at Apana and criticized the former mayor for making more than $5 million in financial commitments, including the purchase of the Wailuku pool and the debt for placing Tech Ready computers in schools, in the waning days of his administration.
Arakawa said that after much review his administration has decided to support the commitments.
Apana said Arakawa should act like the mayor and quit harping.
"I guess I'm his axis of evil," Apana said.
Besides the new civic complex, Arakawa's capital improvement budget would spend $65.1 million for construction projects, including $4 million to buy 100 acres of land at Ukumehame in West Maui, to relocate the state highway inland and create a coastal park, campgrounds and bikeway.
Arakawa's $267.4 million operating budget is 19 percent more than the fiscal 2003 operating budget of $224 million. Arakawa is also proposing to spend $35.4 million from federal and other grants.
Arakawa noted the increase partially stems from the addition of $34.4 million for a Water Department budget as required by a recent County Charter change.
While he plans no increase in property tax rates, his administration will see an additional $6 million in revenues from rising property values.
Arakawa is proposing increasing fees, such as raising the vehicle registration's beautification fund fee to $5 from $2.
Residential sewer rates would go up an average of $3 a month, and business rates would rise as well, both generating an estimated $2.3 million in additional revenues.
Budget Director Danny Agsalog said the county sewer system has been subsidized in the past by property tax revenues and that the recent Arakawa proposal is an attempt to shift the burden to where it belongs.
Agsalog said the proposed sewer rate increases would also impose more fees upon those who are heavy users.
The Arakawa administration also has proposed abandoning the $41-per-truck commercial refuse fee and creating a three-tiered rate based on vehicle weight.
The administration wants to charge $20.50 each for trucks weighing less than a ton, $41 for trucks weighing between 1 and 5 tons, and $82 for 5 tons and higher.
County of Maui
