Pay raises possible
for police managersThe plan hinges on Council
approval of a vehicle tax increase
The City Council may expand police raises to officers not represented by contract if it approves a tax increase to pay for rank-and-file pay hikes.
The Council meets today in a rare special session called by Mayor Jeremy Harris to consider his proposal to increase the vehicle weight tax to pay for more than $18 million in raises for the current and next fiscal year. If the Council does not pass a tax increase this month, the city loses the revenue for this fiscal year.
Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said yesterday she would like to give salary increases to so-called excluded managers in the police department and the fire department as well as deputy attorneys within the Corporation Counsel's Office. The raises would cost an additional $365,000 for the current fiscal year, according to city figures.
"I found out some of the officers, they don't even want to become ... a major because they would be getting less money and yet the responsibilities of those majors are so great," Kobayashi said.
She said that if the tax increase is passed, there would be enough money to cover the additional raises.
The Police Department sent a letter to the Council this week asking for a 4 percent raise over the next four years for their 52 captains, majors and assistant chiefs. They say that if the managers don't get a raise, lower-ranked lieutenants would make more money than higher-ranking officials with more responsibilities.
Police officers represented by the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers won an arbitrated award that will cost $67 million over four years. The city needs to pay for $5.7 million in raises this fiscal year and nearly $13 million next year.
The Council also received a letter yesterday from city Budget Director Ivan Lui-Kwan arguing in favor of passing the tax increase and saying that without the additional revenue, the city faces a budget deficit of $106 million. With the bill, the deficit would drop by more than $18 million.
That figure includes additional revenues of $51 million projected from rising property assessments.
Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz said the additional raises and looming deficit are compelling reasons to consider raising the tax.
"I'm definitely considering it in light of the information that we now have," Dela Cruz said. "But I still want to wait until (today's) discussion. Considering and voting are two separate things."
Harris proposed raising the passenger vehicle weight tax to 2 cents a pound, a 0.75-cent increase. The proposal also calls for the commercial vehicle weight tax to climb to 2.5 cents a pound from 2 cents.
The proposed increase is expected to generate $6.5 million for the current fiscal year and $13 million for next fiscal year, which begins in July.
During its final scheduled meeting of the year on Dec. 3, the Council sent the mayor's proposal to raise the tax back to committee, effectively putting off a decision.
City officials said the tax increase can take effect only on Jan. 1 of each year. To do so, it must be approved by the end of the prior year.
"If we don't pass this, we're going to be in even worse financial shape," Dela Cruz said.
But Dela Cruz said that more questions have come out of Lui-Kwan's letter. "We're in a situation where there's not enough time to ask a lot of specific questions regarding the deficit," Dela Cruz said. "I do know that people would like more information."
Another expected proposed change in the bill today would state the Council's desire to later adjust the vehicle weight tax "in the event sufficient monies are found during the ... budget process."
Dela Cruz said that "if we get information later, then we have that option."
