COMMENTARY
Budget tumult looming at Honolulu City Hall
By Bob Dye
Kailua-based writer and historian
Build fields and fields and fields of soccer dreams and they will come. The mayor promised the City Council those fields would not cost taxpayers a cent. Quite the contrary, they would boost the economy.
Somehow it didn't work out that way. No society of soccer moms agreed to manage the complex. No planeloads of soccer teams landed here to practice or play. So the soccer fields now cost us $750,000 a year to mow and fertilize and mow again.
That's not a dream, it's a recurring nightmare. No fun in that, not for anyone!
For an incumbent mayor to use tax dollars to run for re-election, or for higher office, is neither new nor bad. If that money is well spent for a project that is essential to our community's well-being, it's all to the good — real and political.
Former Mayor Frank Fasi rode to re-election on TheBus and then-Lt. Gov. Ben Cayetano got A-Plus to be governor. Both programs responded to real needs in kuleana that were clearly the responsibility of the city and state, respectively.
If, however, a program is not really needed but only liked, then it's not a good idea to institute it in tough economic times. Brunch on the beach and movies at sunset are expensive ($300,000 and counting) examples of what not to do.
A yardstick by which council members can assess the priority of various programs is clearly needed this election year. To help in this matter, the Budget Committee of the Honolulu City Council has named a residents' advisory panel. The select group of five experts will help to develop guidelines to decide priorities for city services and programs to be included in the city's 2002-03 budget.
"It is crucial to determine whether or not a program or service is deserving of continued or new funding," said Tax Foundation director Lowell Kalapa, a member of the new task force.
Veteran budget committee member John Henry Felix said there is every reason to believe the recommendations of the advisory members will be taken seriously:
"The input of the task force will prove invaluable to the City Council in understanding the delicate balance and intricate nuances of city finances," he said. "The key to the success of the task force is its independence."
In addition to Kalapa, the members are: economist Paul Brewbaker, senior vice president of Bank of Hawai'i; Peter Leong, a former city director of finance and retired head of federal credit unions here; Ray Ono, senior vice president and banking center manager of First Hawaiian Bank; and Dr. Kenneth E. Sprague, a former city department head of environmental services.
To have the council assertively form such a distinguished panel would have been surprising a couple of months ago. But since reorganizing itself, the "new council" is not kowtowing to city administration mandarins. The council's budget committee, headed by the council's newest member, Ann Kobayashi, demands researched answers to tough questions.
"Kobayashi is perfect for the job of budget chair," Felix said. "She asks the right questions and is uncovering a number of areas of great concern not before identified."
A former head of the state Senate's Ways and Means Committee, Kobayashi says of the advisory committee: "We desperately need this advisory group of financial experts to help us. The city is in far worse financial straits than I ever imagined. I am truly concerned about balancing the budget this year and in the years to come."
But Kobayashi may not keep the budget job much longer because the council may again be reorganized. Councilwoman Rene Mansho, a former budget committee head and political ally of Mayor Jeremy Harris, may be leaving the council soon.
She faces an impeachment petition and may also face further legal problems related to her problems with the state Campaign Spending Commission and the City Ethics Commission. Last year, she paid a $40,000 settlement to end the Ethics Committee investigation and was fined another $40,000 by the Spending Commission.
If and when she leaves, a replacement will be selected by a majority vote, at least five of eight, of the council. If they can't decide which resident of District 1 to appoint within 30 days, the mayor will appoint a successor.
But wait a minute! If the state Supreme Court decides by mid-April that Harris should have resigned his mayoral office months ago to run for governor, instead of waiting until filing as others have done, he might not be around to make such a choice.
If Harris is no longer mayor, then the acting mayor (probably managing director Ben Lee) will do the choosing. But good ol' buddy that Lee is, in reality it will be Harris who selects. Unless, of course, Lee decides to run for mayor and wants some friends of his own on the council.
But there are other possible complications. If the high court says Harris does have to resign from office, by implication that could mean three councilmen must also resign to run for other offices because of overlapping terms. So, Duke Bainum, who is campaigning hard for mayor, and John DeSoto and Jon Yoshimura, who seek nominations as lieutenant governor, may also have to vacate the council chambers.
So if and when those councilmen resign to run, this council has the potential to finish the year with only a minority (four of nine) of those who began with it: Romy Cachola, Felix, Steve Holmes and Gary Okino.
Will the newly appointed (not elected) faces on the council decide to reorganize it? If so, will they keep Kobayashi as budget chairwoman? Or put Holmes, a Harris ally, back in the top budget job?
Because of all the uncertainties about possible leadership changes, the need to listen carefully to the new advisory panel of budget experts is heightened. Common sense and good order must be brought to the city's budget process, including defining the role of vision teams.
Harris is absolutely right to urge the high court to decide his course quickly. Both friends and foes need to decide what to do next. So, too, do members of the council, and those wannabe council members.
This year, there shouldn't be any voter apathy, just a lot of confusion. Even a Machiavelli needs a score card to keep track of what's happening.
