Posted on: Sunday, January 5, 2003

EDITORIAL
City Council must set fresh budget plans

Newly installed Honolulu Council Chairman Gary Okino painted a grim picture for his colleagues last week during inauguration ceremonies for the nine-member council.

Okino contends the city faces an unprecedented budget challenge, with a shortfall of as much as $180 million and a debt service burden that could more than double over the next five years.

All that comes in the face of an aging sewer infrastructure that requires close to $1 billion in upgrades under federal court order. And that's just one example of the unusual expenses that loom on the budget horizon: $90 million worth of improvements to make sidewalks accessible to the disabled, which is a federal mandate, and tens of millions in backlogged road resurfacing.

Mayor Jeremy Harris, who has determinedly held down property taxes for years, does not see the fiscal future quite as darkly as Okino. But he acknowledges that the city is close to the point of no return in the squeeze between escalating demands and limited resources.

This crunch, combined with the fact that six of the nine council members are newcomers with no commitment or bonds to the past, offers a bright opportunity to create new budget strategies for Honolulu.

Okino and Harris have promised that the council and administration will work cooperatively. And that will be critical. Because it will take the best efforts of both branches to make it through this budget season.

The administration will present its budget in March. But the council cannot afford to wait until then. Between now and March, the new council should dig deeply into the workings of the city and decide just what it is the city should be offering the citizens of Honolulu in terms of programs and services.

Once those spending priorities are identified, they can be costed out and then tax rates set accordingly. Too often in the past, budget priorities were determined by the resources available, rather than the other way around.

Okino has said he sees a property tax hike as all-but-inevitable. That may or may not be so, but the first step in that direction is in deciding how much will be spent, and on what.