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Mayor’s straight talk
a refreshing change

THE ISSUE Mayor Hannemann's review of the books shows the city is in poor fiscal health.

JEREMY Harris is gone from City Hall, but the ghost of the mayor past will long haunt the new administration and taxpayers with a financial nightmare induced by Harris' ambitious dreams for Honolulu.

Mayor Hannemann last week unfolded a brutal assessment of the city's fiscal health, an evaluation he prudently figured he'd need before proposing his first budget next month. The grim results present Hannemann with the unpleasant task of raising sewer and other fees, possibly reducing services and unloading construction projects to keep the city's books in line.

Unlike his predecessor, Hannemann has thus far shown he is willing to deliver bad news frankly. But as mayor, it is essential that he also inspire civic pride, which he should demonstrate in his State of the City address next month.

The financial review shows the city is paying $290 million a year on borrowed funds that total $3.2 billion. The debt service gobbles about 25 percent of the city's budget, the biggest segment of spending. Cash reserves have dropped by $251 million in the past five years and spending exceeds revenues by $200 million.

Meanwhile, money for maintenance and repairs was shifted to cover costs for other services, and catching up will take more money than if work had been done promptly.

Nowhere is this more evident than with the ailing sewer system. About $340 million was transferred from the sewer fund while ruptured lines and plant spills have become more and more frequent.

Hannemann has shrewdly been preparing taxpayers for the possibility of fee increases since he took office. He seems to realize that truthful appraisals and straight talk will make the bad news easier to swallow. Still, he will have to use all of his political skills to convince residents of the city's needs and that he'll manage their tax dollars more wisely than did Harris.

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Legislators meddle in
detention chores

THE ISSUE A bill in the Legislature would require the Youth Services to obtain legislative approval of interstate transfers of juvenile inmates.

LAST September's brief transfer of seven girls from the Hawaii Youth Correctional Center to a detention center in Utah demonstrated the need for more facilities for delinquent young people in Hawaii. It should not have prompted a mischievous bill in the Legislature that would require legislative approval of such emergency transfers.

Governor Lingle said at the time of the 50-day transfer of the girls that she intended to put youth correctional facilities on neighbor islands and consult with experts about successful programs on the mainland. That effort should go forward without legislators in the meantime meddling with administrative operation of the youth detention program.

Sharon Agnew, director of the state Office of Youth Services, told a Senate committee last week that the girls' transfer was made to ease overcrowding among boys while renovations were being made to housing units at the Kailua facility. It allowed some boys to be moved into the girls' unit.

The office was remiss in failing to notify all of the girls' families about their transfer before reports surfaced in the media that they were being sent to Utah. That does not justify intrusive legislation.

Lingle pointed out to the committee that the proposal is unrealistic since the Legislature meets only the first four months of the year. The Hawaii Juvenile Justice Project's Kat Brady, who supported the bill, admitted that approval of transfers by the part-time Legislature would not be "doable."

In what can be interpreted as due sarcasm, Lingle said she realized that legislators "are all well-meaning in wanting to have the decision-making authority on whether to send kids to the mainland or not if some sort of emergency develops." By this time, the Republican governor should be accustomed to the Democrat-controlled Legislature wanting to take administrative authority away from the executive branch.