Council fattens city budget

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser City Hall Writer

The Honolulu City Council is getting ready to approve a construction budget for the upcoming fiscal year of more than $580 million, about $80 million more than the proposal submitted in March by Mayor Jeremy Harris.

Mayor Jeremy Harris wants to fix the wastewater treatment. Advertiser library photo • April 3, 2001

The construction budget does not rely on taxes or fees and uses money from government bonds to pay for its projects.

Holmes points to $100 million worth of sewer work in the budget — much of it required by the federal government to comply with environmental laws — and about $58 million related to moving city crews out of the Kewalo Basin area as the state moves to reclaim land long used by the city for maintenance equipment.

The mayor said the $580 million budget "represents the largest investment in our history in rebuilding our wastewater treatment system."

Harris is preparing to run for governor next year and several of the council members are planning to seek other offices as they reach the end of their terms and are prevented by term limits from running for re-election.

Those political aspirations have city officials looking closely at the budget for ways to make a difference.

City Council Chairman Jon Yoshimura — who intends to run for lieutenant governor — says the budget remains a responsible one that focuses on projects favored by the community. "We do not feel that this will significantly increase the city's debt and I think that's what the public's concerned about," he said.

Yoshimura said he's confident that the budget is workable. "We have quite a few things that we would like to achieve before we leave office," he said.

Councilman Steve Holmes wants the city to buy a golf course. Advertiser library photo • Sept. 5, 1995

He said debt service has been cut from about 20 percent to around 15 percent, which translates to a savings of about $50 million a year "that we can now spend on real projects, not debt."

On Wednesday, the council's Budget Committee will hold a special meeting to review and take action on the latest version of the city spending plans. Members of the public may testify at the meeting. Final action on the city budget is scheduled by the full council on May 30.

Holmes has included $9 million more so the city could purchase the 190 acres that include the existing Luana Hills Golf Course and clubhouse. Another $4 million is already in the supplemental budget to buy the 900 undeveloped acres in the area.

Some council members have questioned whether the city can afford the golf course and would be able to operate and maintain the challenging course successfully.

Holmes said the city's operating budget is expected to be $1.083 billion for the upcoming year.

Another recent addition to the construction budget has been $2 million to plan, design and build improvements to the city's Foster Botanical Gardens. "I think that is a city treasure that has been neglected," Yoshimura said.

Holmes noted $4 million worth of energy conservation projects, which will pay for themselves in savings over the coming years.

Yoshimura stressed $2 million for various high-tech innovations for TheBus, including turning passes into "smart cards" that can be read by computers on the buses. The computers will track who rides what bus, how many times, where people board and more to help put buses where people need them.