Council questions Next year's $475.5 million capital improvements budget offered by Mayor Jeremy Harris is drawing some questions from City Council members even though it is $103 million less than the one approved for the current year.
size of Harris budget
The budget for capital improvements
is less than last year but
still too big, members sayBy Gordon Y.K. Pang
gpang@starbulletin.com"I'm worried about expenditures and debt service," new Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said. "How are we paying, that's what worries me."
Councilman John Henry Felix said: "I would have preferred to see it closer to $300 million. It appears to me that we should bite the bullet and live within our means."
Councilman Duke Bainum said: "The CIP budget sounds a mite high. I would that we could bring it in for lower.
"I do appreciate that we have a lot of sewer issues, but the bad news is that the CIP continues to be as large as it is given our debt service situation."
Harris said a large chunk of the capital improvements budget will be geared toward waste-water and solid waste disposal operations, and transportation needs.
About $155 million is targeted for federally mandated sewage management improvements, including $95 million for upgrades to the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant.
Among solid waste disposal projects is a $6 million expansion of the city's waste-to-energy H-POWER facility, which will increase capacity by 50 percent, thereby reducing the amount of waste sent to the landfill by 80 percent. An additional $8 million will go toward acquiring land that will host a recycling technology park.
Harris is also proposing $65 million for the first phase of construction of the city's Bus Rapid Transit project. That will include $35 million for improvements associated with the Iwilei-Waikiki leg of the in-town section, which the mayor said he hopes will be operational within three years.
Also being eyed is $5 million for the city's share of a north-south road connecting Kapolei with Ewa and $3.3 million to complete an emergency access road for the Waianae Coast.
Harris critics have raised questions about big-ticket, high-priced improvements that have been proposed and approved in recent years, particularly recreational facilities.
The mayor unveiled the budget yesterday at a news conference.
Major projects include $13 million for an aquatics center, community ballroom and other improvements associated with Phase 3 of Central Oahu Regional Park.
Meanwhile, budget officials released a chart yesterday that showed that the average annual CIP budget from 1990 to 1994, the year Harris took office, was $446 million a year, while from 1995 to 2002, it dropped to $316 million a year.
In fiscal year 2001, however, the initial $299 million budget was later augmented by an $84 million supplemental budget. Last year, Harris submitted a $498 million budget, which the Council increased to $579 million.
Also proposed for the coming CIP budget:
>> $20 million for equipment purchases.
>> $14 million for court-mandated curb ramps throughout the island.
>> $6.2 million for rehabilitation of streets around the island.
>> $6.1 million for improvements at Honolulu Zoo.
>> $6 million for a police training academy firing range.
>> $4.2 million to upgrade the Police Department's troubled telecommunications system.
>> $3.9 million for various Waikiki projects.
>> $3.2 million to make improvements at the city's municipal golf courses.
>> $3 million to acquire, plan and design a municipal parking lot along Ala Wai.
>> $2 million for additional King Street improvements.
Tax drop, new police and fire posts proposed
No tax or fee increases will be sought in Mayor Jeremy Harris' proposed $1.1 billion operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.The budget represents a $37 million, or 3.4 percent, increase.
Among the highlights:
>> A drop in apartment-condominium tax rates that is part of a three-year plan to make them equitable with rates paid by single-family homeowners. It will cost the city $3.8 million in revenues.
>> Property tax revenues, assuming no additional changes in rates, would rise $384 million, up 6 percent from last year.
>> 12 new sworn positions in the Police Department, including five needed to run the city's new alarm permit program and two to operate a night patrol downtown.
>> Funding for 22 of 31 vacant groundskeeper positions in the Parks Department.
>> Four new positions dealing with bioterrorism situations -- two in the Fire Department and two in Emergency Medical Services.
>> Eight other Fire Department positions.
>> Higher fixed costs, including collective-bargaining pay increases ($24 million) and health fund payments ($4.6 million).
>> About 563 citywide positions remain vacant and unfunded.
City & County of Honolulu
