They've got money
on their minds

Kobayashi exposes city's fiscal faux pas

Three cheers for Ann Kobayashi! As chairwoman of the City Council's Budget Committee, newly elected Council member Kobayashi has returned some sanity to city finances.

The mayor's public statement that Kobayashi's budget proposals are "irresponsible" is like the pot calling the kettle black. Is it responsible to build swimming pools and soccer stadiums that are closed because there was no real plan to maintain them? Sure, folks like Brunch on the Beach and free movies. But is it responsible to fund these things while core city services like roads and sewers are neglected?

Councilwoman Kobayashi deserves praise for taking on the awesome responsibility of cleaning up the budgetary mess created by the mayor and the rubber-stamp City Council.

John Pritchett

City wasted millions on unneeded projects

I found the letter, "Harris is being unfairly targeted" (Star-Bulletin, April 19), regarding Mayor Harris and the great job he is doing somewhat mindboggling. Some of his accomplishments come to mind: A planned -- but partially scrapped -- waterfall, including pools, flames and a statue in Kapolei that would have cost $524,000, but thankfully was scaled back to $360,000; a poorly designed and unwanted visitor center at Haunama Bay with a cost overrun of $2 million and counting; beach parties at $1 million, which is three times the initial estimated cost.

Then we have the city swimming pools that cannot be maintained and as a result have ridiculously limited hours. Our poorly maintained roads jar your teeth and wreak havoc on your car's alignment.

My street, which has been resurfaced once in the 39 years I have lived here, is now just gravel. Sewers and water pipes are falling apart all over the place, not only disrupting homes, but businesses.

And Harris has accomplished all of this in less than two years. Just imagine what he can do to the state in four years!

Shirley Hasenyager
Kailua

Forget about raiding the hurricane fund

Once again legislators are coveting the Hawaii Hurricane Relief Fund to help balance the state budget. The Senate is proposing to use the interest from the fund as a loan, but it is still raiding the fund.

They should first see how much of the supplemental budgets of the many state agencies they can eliminate.

State department heads are using scare tactics, hoping to persuade lawmakers of the importance of their supplemental funds. But sacrifices must be made from the top. Arguing that essential services would have to be curtailed or cut if the monies were taken from the supplemental budgets shows how wasteful the state has been during 40 years of Democratic Party rule.

The taxpayers can no longer sustain the cost of unneeded pet projects. The budget shortfall is due to the incompetence of the state government.

Drew Kosora

Threats to cut A+ mask budget errors

The threat to cut the Department of Education's A+ after-school program if the hurricane fund isn't raided illustrates in infuriating detail the failure of the legislative leadership to act like executives running a business.

I have two children enrolled in A+, and I think it's a valuable service, but I see no compelling reason why taxpayers who don't have children should be forced to subsidize the cost of enrolling my children.

If the program wasn't subsidized -- if the fees fully covered the cost of running the program -- the Legislature couldn't threaten to cut the service because it wouldn't help balance the budget.

So the obvious solution is to put the program out to bid for each school, and force the DOE to slash its bureaucracy so it can compete against private entrepreneurs on the basis of cost.

Yes, it would cost parents more than the current grossly subsidized rate, but the net cost of running the program would drop, saving the taxpayers money. Then the program couldn't be held hostage any more in budget negotiations.

Let's get rid of these dithering politicians who think the only way to balance the budget is to raid the hurricane fund and other special funds, raise taxes and fees, and cut useful services like A+.

Let's elect some state leaders who don't act like deer in the headlights when they need to set priorities and make smart choices.

Jim Henshaw
Kailua

Let's take ax to both city and state jobs

Regarding the story, "Harris warns 146 jobs at risk" (Star-Bulletin, April 19):

This a good start! Let's see where else we can cut jobs in the city government. I'm sure the mayor can find 300 to 500 more positions to trim.

Now we just need to bring the state in on this. We should be able to privatize and cut jobs from the state payrolls as well.

Both our city and state governments are too big. This is a symptom of the root of the problem, which is that one party (Democrats) have been in power for too long.

Robert Dunn
Waipahu

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