Financing for police raises still in question

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

Nearly a week after they shelved a plan to increase motor vehicle weight taxes to pay for raises for Honolulu police, Honolulu City Council members still disagree over how to come up with the money.

The council last week halted the plan to raise vehicle weight taxes to finance the city's $5.8 million share for this year.

Some have expressed worries that the pay raise reached through arbitration and supported by the council at a separate vote last month, will go unfinanced, but Ann Kobayashi, who heads the council's Budget Committee, said she believes the raises can be met through proceeds from the sale earlier this year of the city-owned Block J parcel in downtown Honolulu. The sale netted the city $10 million.

"We have money from that source that can be used to pay for the pay raises," Kobayashi said. "Definitely, the council is committed to paying the police their salary increases."

But Councilman Gary Okino, reiterating comments made by members of Mayor Jeremy Harris' administration, said the Block J revenues were already factored into this year's budget when it was approved in July.

Kobayashi said Harris' administration for the past five years has tagged the sale of Block J as a revenue source when it was not sold, and that the city has managed to maintain a balanced operating budget despite that incomplete accounting. Now that the property has sold, she said, "this year we actually got real money."

Timing is critical for council members if they are to change their minds and decide to go with the weight tax increase because the council can only institute changes in weight taxes on Jan. 1. The bill authorizing the weight tax increase was referred back to the Budget Committee last Wednesday.

Kobayashi said while it is theoretically possible for her to hold another hearing on the weight tax increase before the end of the year — and then have the bill sent back to the full council for a final vote — she does not think that will happen.

Okino believes the issue should be taken up soon, reiterating his support for raising the weight tax to pay for the police increases, but Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz said he supports Kobayashi's call to allocate Block J proceeds for the raises and that there is no immediate need to discuss the vehicle weight tax increase this year.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8070.