Harris raps
Kobayashi on budgetThe councilwoman says the mayor
"has been bad-mouthing me since last year"
The political battle over the city's proposed operating budget heated up yesterday with a verbal battle between the mayor and the City Council's Budget Committee chairwoman.
Mayor Jeremy Harris said he thinks that Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi has been "disingenuous" and does not know what she is doing in altering the $1.2 billion budget.
"We think that we have a serious problem here if truly this reflects the level of the understanding with the chairman of the committee, or if it is simply a political ploy, it is getting into dangerous waters," the mayor said.
He also said he believes "there is a lot of politics in it, because she will have a conversation with (Budget Director Ivan Lui-Kwan) and then get out in front of the camera and say ... something she knows is not true."
Kobayashi, who was chairwoman of the Ways and Means Committee when she was in the state Senate, said she was not going to dignify Harris' comments with a response.
"I don't want to get into that sort of attack and back-and-forth. We have more important problems to contend with," she said. "He can say what he wants, you know; it's fine with me. He's been bad-mouthing me since last year. It doesn't bother me, 'cause I have a job to do."
Harris appeared before the Star-Bulletin editorial board yesterday for the second time this week, this time to respond to comments by Kobayashi at Wednesday's public hearing on the budget.
Harris is proposing $23 million in property tax increases and $24 million in fee hikes to balance the city's $1.2 billion operating budget.
Kobayashi said Wednesday that the mayor submitted a "phantom" or "stealth" budget that balances the budget with revenues that do not exist.
Kobayashi threatened to hold the operating budget in committee, which would mean that the budget Harris submitted would go into effect without Council approval.
But she also said she would amend the resolution setting the property tax rates and the bills on fee increases.
Harris countered yesterday that if Kobayashi holds the budget bill in committee, the budget that he submitted to the Council goes into effect no matter what the Council does with the fee bills.
"The budget is not just one bill, the budget is the accompanying message and necessary proposed ordinances for the ensuing fiscal year. So all the ordinances that represent fees, taxes, expenditures, operating capital -- that's the budget. You can't separate out just one without the documents. It's all in there together," Harris said.
Budget Director Ivan Lui-Kwan added: "The law requires that the budget is balanced. If the Council refuses to submit a balanced budget, then the mayor's budget goes into effect."
Kobayashi said her committee has scheduled a meeting Thursday to discuss the budget.
City & County of Honolulu
