Councilman opposes contingency fund
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
A proposal to give City Council members a $90-a-month contingency fund would help members cover incidental expenses, but to one councilman it just equals a slush fund.
For the first time, the council is considering setting up a separate fund to cover expenses such as renting meeting spaces, purchasing leis or framing the honorary certificates the council gives out each month. Now members pay for such items out of their salaries. The annual salary is $43,340 for council members and $48,450 for the chairperson.
A contingency fund of $100 per month for each member was included in the council's $8.67 million legislative operating budget, but the Budget Committee has reduced the fund by 10 percent as a cost-cutting measure.
The full council will hold a public hearing at 4 p.m. today on the city's legislative, operating and construction budgets for the fiscal year beginning July 1, as well as various fees and a real property tax rate increase proposal.
To Councilman Charles Djou, creating a contingency fund is akin to council members giving themselves a backdoor salary increase. He argued that administrative costs should be paid for out of council member's salaries and that council members should be asking the Honolulu Salary Commission for a raise, not setting up their own fund.
He added that while eliminating the contingency fund would save less than $10,000 a year, it comes at a time when the council is telling city departments to scrimp and save. "This is not the right time to be asking for our own little slush fund," he said.
Council Chairman Gary Okino objected to Djou's characterization of the contingency fund, pointing out that it will not be totally discretionary. "It's not like a personal fund where they can just take the money and put it in their pocket and go to the movies," he said.
"This is to help the council member actually do his job," Okino said.
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
