Posted on: Sunday, February 16, 2003

EDITORIAL
If you build it, you have to fully fund it

O'ahu boasts some fabulous new amenities: the Marine Education Center at Hanauma Bay Nature Park, the Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Park and the tennis complex at Central O'ahu Regional Park.

But as part of a disturbing trend developing under the administration of Mayor Jeremy Harris, there's not sufficient money to run some of these "world-class" amenities, never mind the delays and cost overruns.

The city administration apparently still has not provided the final cost of the Hanauma center, which is estimated to exceed $16 million.

Meanwhile, annual operating costs of the regional park, including tennis complex, and the soccer park are each estimated at $700,000 to $750,000. And the city parks director has yet to nail down a private company to operate either of these facilities at a lower price.

It's unfair to raise taxes to foot these bills. And though we're reluctant to endorse user fees as a way for the city to get away with failing to figure in operating costs, we can't see a way around it.

Like council members Charles Djou and Barbara Marshall, we wouldn't want to open the floodgates to other parks charging user fees. These are public amenities already funded by taxpayers.

Of course, we're optimistic that the tennis complex will lure national, international and professional tournaments, already infusing some $125,000 into the economy during its opening five-day tournament starting this weekend.

But that doesn't alleviate the ongoing burden of running these facilities without adequate funding.

As long as the Harris administration keeps up this piecemeal budgeting process, council budget chairwoman Ann Kobayashi is going to keep chanting the altogether reasonable mantra, "It makes no sense to build new parks without fully planning their upkeep."