Fiscal discipline
will put Honolulu
back on track
By Duke Bainum
Exactly two months after the next mayor is sworn into office, the city's budget for the next fiscal year is due. There is not enough time to conduct an expensive and lengthy audit. The next mayor should already possess the background and experience to understand the root causes of the city's financial difficulties.
My track record is one of fiscal prudence and accountability. I have a small business background, and from a young age have worked in my family's businesses -- a family that started with nothing, worked hard and became successful. While on the City Council, more than six of my eight years of service was on the Budget Committee -- five years as either chairman or vice chairman -- so I have a deep understanding of how the city and its finances work. As budget chairman, I led the Council on the following accomplishments:
» Established the city's first debt and financial policy that specifies limits on city borrowing and restrictions on spending.
» Supported the creation and funding of the city's first "rainy day" fund.
» Called for an investigation of the Ewa Villages revitalization project that helped uncover the largest theft of city money.
» Required limits on change orders for construction contracts, and raised questions on the numerous projects that were over-budget and behind schedule, including Central Oahu Regional Park.
What will it take to make our city fiscally sound?
1. We must first bring honest change to the city and how it operates. Honolulu cannot afford to continue to build projects that are over-budget and overdue. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been wasted because of contracts going to businesses based on who they know, and not what they know or what their qualifications are.
2. Honolulu must commit to following a responsible capital construction plan to ensure that priority projects are built in a way that will enable the city to manage the amount of debt service it incurs.
3. My administration will return to using the city's six-year Capital Improvement Project plan as a long-term planning tool.
Following the six-year CIP plan will help ensure that projects essential to the upgrade of our infrastructure, as well as homeland security needs of our police officers and firefighters remain a priority.
It also sets forth a suggested time frame for the construction of projects, provides a time table within which the project will be built, and allows the city to better anticipate future debt service, operations and maintenance budgeting.
4. The city must be proactive, not reactive, in how it addresses anticipated increases and decreases in revenues and the cost of city government.
» The city should maintain a long-range financial plan which projects the city's future revenues, collective bargaining increases, operating costs, capital construction costs and debt service.
» We must stop the practice of balancing the budget on one-time events such as the sale of city property.
5. The city must follow through on the adoption of "performance-based" budgeting techniques that were initiated in the late 1990s.
» Over the last decade, both the federal government and other cities around the country have integrated performance measures into their budgets to maximize taxpayer dollars.
» We will develop benchmarks and standards for city services to determine the cost effectiveness of the services, as well as to address whether the services are delivered in the most efficient manner.
6. Finally, within my first 100 days in office, we will review all city contracts of more than $250,000 to determine that they were issued fairly and in compliance with the state procurement law.
The city's financial outlook is challenging -- there are miles of roads to fix, an aging sewer system to repair, neighborhood parks to renovate, expensive landfill and waste issues to address, significant increases in debt service on the horizon and skyrocketing real property values to contend with.
I have an in-depth knowledge of the city's budget, the commitment to eliminate waste and inefficiencies, the fiscal discipline to keep Honolulu's infrastructure needs in focus, and the leadership skills to handle the city's budget during difficult economic times.
This is not the time for on-the-job-training.
On Public safety
Keeping our citizens safe and protected is without question the most important service provided by the city. As mayor, I will support and work with the Honolulu Police Department and the Prosecutor's Office to ensure they have the tools and manpower to provide residents with a safe community.
When I was on the City Council, I voted to increase the budget appropriation for more police equipment, including upgrades to the radio communications system, video surveillance equipment, night vision equipment and mobile data computers.
Even with these additional tools, Honolulu police say that drugs, specifically "ice," has reached epidemic proportions and is the driving force behind the state's high property crime rate, with addicts having to steal and burglarize in order to pay for their drug habit. Increasingly, as addicts become more desperate, they are committing more violent crimes.
It is clear that law enforcement cannot solve the drug and crime problems alone. As mayor, I support a balanced approach including prevention, education, treatment and law enforcement working together. Under the Bainum administration, we will:
» Propose giving the city corporation counsel the authority to execute expedited evictions as a way to take quick action against drug dealers. If you have an "ice" house in your neighborhood, or if you have a tenant dealing drugs out of your property -- commercial or residential -- it can take months for the owner to evict tenants who are making and selling drugs. Expedited evictions speed up the eviction process, an approach that has been successful in housing projects on the mainland, which provides a long-term solution to eliminating drug marketplaces.
» Look at the city's inventory of underutilized land and facilities for the development of treatment centers. The city must, in partnership with non-profit organizations, create new bed space for substance abusers and develop support services to help drug abusers.
» Develop a wide range of after school programs through the Department of Parks and Recreation. Our kids, from elementary through high school, are most vulnerable after school, between the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.
On Leasehold property
I favor home ownership for our citizens. Our elderly on fixed incomes, our young families with limited financial resources and every other hard-working person in this community should have the peace of mind and certainty that they will not lose their homes to landlords imposing soaring lease rents. For this reason, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Hawaii's leasehold reform act in 1980 and paved the way for the City and County of Honolulu to extend the benefits of this law to condominium owners under Chapter 38.
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Need and
affordability
will guide
city spending
By Mufi Hannemann
Imagine a Honolulu where value for your tax dollar and effective government are facts of life. Greater fiscal accountability will be the goal of my administration from the first day I take office as mayor.
Lead by example: I am a fiscal conservative, and pledge to live within our means and end all unnecessary, frivolous spending. Taxpayers' dollars will not be thought of as a personal piggybank, and political appointments will only be filled if they are fully warranted. As examples, every department will have to justify having a $90,000 deputy director, and those 89-day rollover personal contracts will be heavily scrutinized.
Fiscal fitness exam through operational audits: Our first task will be to supplement the city's annual financial audit with perform- ance audits of all operations to include in-depth examinations of every business practice and operation. With the input of the City Council, city employees and the public, our objective will be to determine how we can deliver better results for less money.
Instead of beginning with last year's budget and arbitrarily adding or subtracting from requests, the fitness exams will enable us to identify key results taxpayers want most from government.
Budgeting for results: The current administration has spent untold millions on highly visible, "nice-to-have" projects, while neglecting basic services. The result is debt payments that threaten to overtake public safety as a budget priority.
We must budget for results. This means identifying and prioritizing services and projects based on affirmative answers to these three questions:
» Do we need it?
» Can we afford it?
» Can we maintain it?
Safety and basic city services first: Capital improvements will be restricted to need-to-have projects until the city's debt can be reduced to a manageable level. Clearly, debt service should never eclipse public safety as the biggest part of the budget.
Public safety will not be compromised, as this should be the top priority of any city government.
It also means not neglecting such basic services as road maintenance, sewers, parks and solid waste management.
Federal funding: Working with our congressional delegation, I will take advantage of my Washington experience with four presidential administrations to identify county-specific grants.
Major cities have proactive initiatives to lure economic development and job-training grants, infrastructure assistance, homeland security funding, and the like, and the city will aggressively pursue federal funding opportunities under a Hannemann administration.
Eliminate duplication of services: No more studies are needed for action to be taken on this important subject. Oahu, as the largest county, should take the lead in working with our fellow counties and the state to pursue cost savings and greater efficiencies in three targeted areas: roads, parks and business permitting.
An honest budget: A Hannemann administration will not resort to gimmicks to present a rosy picture of the city's financial condition, such as raiding $56 million from the sewer fund to balance the budget, or relying on phantom sales of city property to make up shortfalls.
Instead, we must face reality and cooperate with the Council and others to present a clear picture of the state of our treasury and our priorities.
Working together, we can have the most cost-effective government, in the most efficiently run and beautiful city in the nation.
On Public safety
Public safety must never be compromised and our police, fire, emergency services and ocean safety personnel must have the necessary resources. I have received the endorsements of SHOPO, the police union, and the Hawaii firefighters because they know I will provide the leadership to ensure they have the means to do their jobs. In the case of the police, we need to address the shortage and retention of police officers, and with firefighters their stations are in need of repair and maintenance.
The ice war: Hawaii's war on drug abuse shows no sign of let-up. I pledge to work with the governor and lieutenant governor, Legislature, judiciary, prosecutor and other law enforcement entities to build a strong, comprehensive team strategy to beat the ice epidemic.
Stronger laws: We should give our police and prosecutor the tools and tough laws they need to identify, arrest and prosecute pushers and addicts who are committing violent crimes.
Increased manpower and services: I will work with the police chief to increase the size of narcotics/vice, and am willing to work with the state to increase prison space and treatment services.
Prevention and treatment: Available city land or facilities should be explored as sites for treatment programs and integrated behavioral health services and activities.
I believe faith-based organizations and nonprofit groups should have a role in addressing our drug problems, especially as they are eligible for federal funding for such efforts. The city can expand after-school programs to keep kids off the street and out of trouble, with adult-supervised activities for young people at recreation centers.
Homeland security: We must not ignore the increased threat of terrorism.
I will establish a Mayor's Security Council to serve as the coordinating body to ensure the city's preparedness, in coordination with Oahu Civil Defense.
Crimes against visitors: Crimes against tourists harm us all. I would resurrect the annual Visitor Crimes Conference I introduced as a Council member to plan anti-crime measures.
On Leasehold property
I have always been opposed to mandatory lease-to-fee conversion, based on my belief in the right of landowners to decide if and when they want to sell their property.
I did, however, vote to approve condominium leasehold condemnations only after the city's ordinance was upheld by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and after my Council colleagues and I failed to get the needed votes to amend it.
My concern is over the negative impact mandatory conversion will have on the alii trusts, whose work on behalf of Hawaiian children and their families is funded by income generated by trust land. If I am elected mayor and the bill repealing Chapter 38 comes before me, I will sign it into law.
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