Council restores
budget vetoesHarris threatens court action
to prevent the use of $703,000
that he wanted cut
Mayor Jeremy Harris says he might go to court to prevent the City Council from using $703,000 that he vetoed and the Council then restored yesterday.
"In order to stop them from spending that money, we'd have to, I believe, get a restraining order from the court," Harris said.
The mayor's comments came after Council members overrode several line-item vetoes:
» To keep intact $703,000 that the mayor wanted cut in the Council's $11.9 million legislative budget by voting 7-2. "This administration has taken the wrong approach. If they wanted us to cut this budget, they should've left us the flexibility to cut," Councilwoman Barbara Marshall said.
» To retain several budget provisos in the $1.22 billion city operating budget by voting 6-3. The provisos would provide a $240,000 subsidy from TheBus operations for the Kaimuki/Kapahulu/Waikiki trolley, essentially ban winning bidder Island Recycling from being awarded the recycling contract and divert $100,000 from the Culture and Arts Office to nonprofit events.
» Two of three line-item vetoes in the $298 million capital improvement budget by voting 6-3.
The Council needed at least six votes to override the mayor's vetoes.
The mayor said he will not implement any budget provision that is unlawful, and will go to court if necessary.
Harris said that, for example, one of the provisos that would prevent Island Recycling from getting the recycling contract violates state procurement law and was intended to "funnel" the contract to another vendor. "They can't manipulate the city budget to try to take care of a friendly contract so we will ignore that," Harris said.
He also said that funding is in jeopardy to several nonprofit special events such as the Filipino Centennial Commission and the Downtown Hoolaulea because he will not follow the cultural and arts proviso.
He said he will first use the money to fulfill cultural and arts contracts already in force and run the Cultural and Arts Office.
Harris said that without that $703,000 cut, the budget would be out of balance.
Councilman Gary Okino, in voting against the override of the executive operating budget, said that Council members went "proviso-happy" in restricting how departments spend money.
"This was done only to accommodate their own personal needs and desires," Okino said.
Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said there are parts of the budget that everyone did not like but that the budget as a whole reflects the needs of their districts. "We have to make these tough decisions as we face a challenge," she said.
Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz said after the meeting that he had not heard officially from the mayor that the mayor will not implement parts of the budget.
"I think we're within the law and within the Charter, and I don't think there's anything to show us otherwise," Dela Cruz said.