Harris beach party
bills left out $2.4M

Hannemann criticizes his predecessor
for the auditor’s finding on the
weekend programs

Mayor Mufi Hannemann says his predecessor owes the public an explanation after the city auditor found that former Mayor Jeremy Harris' administration "grossly underreported" by $2.4 million the costs of the Brunch on the Beach, Sunset on the Beach and Rediscover Oahu programs.

"This confirms my belief ... that the city was spending way too much money and allocating too much manpower to these events," Hannemann said. "My predecessor went too far in supporting them and, as the audit shows, did not provide the public with an honest accounting of the costs to Honolulu's taxpayers."

City Auditor Les Tanaka also reported yesterday that poor record-keeping and "missing" documents from the former mayor and his managing director mean that the true costs of these programs might never be known.

The audit found that the Harris administration reported to the City Council that it spent a little more than $2 million on the programs over 3 1/2 fiscal years. But when Tanaka surveyed city agencies to find out what was spent, he found the costs were actually $4.5 million.

"This is one of the grossest examples of mismanagement and inefficient and inaccurate accounting," Hannemann said.

Councilman Charles Djou noted, "For me it's a bit of vindication for the fights of the last couple of years of my concerns, the Council's concerns, that the Harris administration wasn't necessarily playing true with the numbers."

It has been a rough week for the Harris administration, which got slammed in another city audit released Tuesday. The audit on the city's road maintenance program criticized the former mayor for making road maintenance a low priority, in part by diverting 5,600 hours of roadwork staffing hours to Sunset and Brunch on the Beach activities.

Neither Harris or former Managing Director Ben Lee could be reached for comment yesterday.

The Star-Bulletin located Harris on Thursday outside his home, but he said he would not be responding to any criticism against his administration from the auditor or the Hannemann administration.

"I don't think it's right for him to just say, 'I'm a retired mayor now, I'm no longer there,'" Hannemann said yesterday.

A former administration official who did not want to be identified said that the Harris administration members are proud of the Sunset, Brunch and Rediscover events and that it was the individual city departments -- not the mayor's or managing director's office -- that kept their own fiscal and employee documents.

Brunch on the Beach began in July 2001, followed in November 2001 by Sunset on the Beach, which was organized to stimulate economic development in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which rocked Hawaii's tourism industry.

The movie, food and entertainment format of Sunset was taken on the road throughout the island in what has been billed as Rediscover Oahu, which began in January 2002.

Hannemann said his administration began to institute some of the recommendations of the auditor before the audit was released, including beefing up fiscal record-keeping.

Hannemann said he continues to stand behind the events but will keep city involvement to a minimum and reduce the number of events held each year.

His support should dispel the notion that he is out to "destroy" everything the Harris administration did, he said.

"They took great pride in Sunset on the Beach and Brunch on the Beach, and rightfully so," he said. "It's just that they went overboard in their zealous effort to try to get it done. And to put it into place, they neglected many of the things they should've done."

Sunset on the Beach will no longer have city money appropriated for it, and city workers will no longer provide staff to set up and clean up. Some on-duty police and paramedics will be standing by.

The city will continue to fund Rediscover Oahu with $80,000 in the next budget for five events because of Council support.

Hannemann announced that Hawaiian Telcom had agreed to be a corporate sponsor for $125,000.

"It's important for us to recognize the special attributes of our community, and Sunset on the Beach is one of those tremendous attributes," said Michael Ruley, Hawaiian Telcom chief executive.

Rick Egged, executive director of the Waikiki Improvement Association, said the sponsorship would carry Sunset through next June.

Egged said the cost to put on Sunset runs $700,000 to $800,000 a year, which includes hiring private contractors to do the work that city workers used to do.