Agencies offer modest budgets to Legislature

By Gordon Y.K. Pang and Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

The annual parade of agencies seeking an audience with the money committees at the Legislature began yesterday, except most asked not for money for ambitious new programs or sleek buildings.

But even that may not be enough. House Speaker Calvin Say is asking legislative agencies to submit alternative budgets showing a 10 percent cut from the current year's appropriation. Many of the agency chiefs testified yesterday that would be difficult.

The bigger questions will be asked next week when those agencies under the direct control of Gov. Linda Lingle appear before the committees.

The one request yesterday seeking any kind of increase was from the state Judiciary, which wants $113 million budgeted for 2004 and $114 million for 2005. The current year's budget is about $109 million.

The judiciary asked for money to add two associate judges to the Intermediate Court of Appeals.

Michael Broderick, administrative director for the courts, said the Judiciary is seeking about $556,000 a year that would pay for the two additional judges, four law clerks and two assistants. The judges, individually, are paid $110,618 annually.

The Legislature approved a change in the law, in 2001, that adds the two judges. Once they are onboard, a rotation of six Intermediate Court judges will take turns convening as a panel of three.

The roster went from three to four judges in 1992.

Judiciary statistics show the appellate courts in fiscal 2002 terminated 656 appeals, a disposition rate of 73 appeals per judge or justice, nearly double the caseload the court handled in 1978. The median age of appeals pending at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2003 was 359 days, a 25 percent increase over the median age of 286 days at the end of the first quarter the previous year. The American Bar Association's Standards Relating to Appellate Courts recommends that appeals be decided within 105 days of being assigned.

Broderick said the Judiciary also is proposing two more judges at the Circuit Court level to add to the existing 76 authorized judges. One of those positions will be a Family Court judge based on Maui and the other a Drug Court judge on the Big Island.

The Judiciary is seeking $5 million in each of the next two budget years for a computerized case management system that would integrate all the court systems, and nearly $600,000 in each of the next two years to continue financing for a Juvenile Drug Court now paid for through federal sources.

Additionally, the Judiciary is seeking $41 million in next year's capital improvements budget to complete the Hilo Judiciary Complex at the site of the former Kaiko'o Mall, and $74 million in fiscal year 2005 for the Kapolei Judiciary Complex. The Hilo facility is expected to be done in 2007 and the Kapolei center the following year. Each carry total price tags of about $87 million.

As a separate branch of government, the Judiciary is outside the scope of Lingle's recently imposed 5 percent cutback on discretionary funding. But House Finance Chairman Dwight Takamine asked Broderick what the Judiciary would do if the Legislature trimmed its budget by 5 percent.

Broderick said the Judiciary would probably look at savings from payroll but added "there's not a lot of room here to begin to make cuts."

The three Neighbor Island mayors, all Republicans, also appeared before the committees. They will be working with the first Republican at Washington Place in 40 years and the first former mayor to become the state's governor.

Hawai'i County Mayor Harry Kim said he had enjoyed a good relationship with state government under former Gov. Ben Cayetano's administration. "I could not have asked for a better relationship," he said. "It was more than what I hoped for."

Acknowledging the state's looming budget deficit, Kim refrained from offering legislators a shopping list for the Big Island and instead offered examples of steps his county has taken to increase revenue on its own: reducing delinquencies in taxes, wastewater and solid waste; raising the minimum tax to $100 from $25 and increasing real property tax rates and fees.

He pointed out, however, "we do not want a situation where people cannot afford to live in the place they call home," a sentiment echoed by Kaua'i Mayor Bryan Baptiste. Kaua'i is also looking at revamping its real property tax system, Baptiste said.

From the list of projects he hoped lawmakers would finance and support, Kim highlighted a veterans' home at the Hilo Medical Center, asking the state to provide $8.4 million to match federal funds.

Bapiste urged legislators to consider financing an $860,000 rubberized track at Vidinha Stadium, to ensure that Kaua'i students have comparable opportunities to their peers across the state. He also asked for state support in upgrading Kaua'i's sewer system.

Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa, whose administration will submit a legislative package later, said his county is working to strengthen its capacity for self-sufficiency by improving its diversified agricultural production, medical emergency services and alternative energy resources.

He asked the money committees for $2 million for an air ambulance system to serve the island's only full-service acute-care hospital. Private companies discontinued the service six years ago because they could not make it profitable, he said.

Arakawa also urged legislators to continue the environmental workforce, asking for $1 million to pay for programs that battle miconia, coqui frogs and dengue fever.

Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris could not appear and will testify separately on Jan. 17.

Also yesterday, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs submitted a $6.6 million budget for 2004 and 2005, the amount it is using this year. Of the amount, only $2.5 million comes from the state general fund. The rest comes from OHA's coffers.

On a separate issue, executive director Clyde Namuo said that House attorneys are reviewing OHA's request for immediate payment of $10.3 million in back payments for undisputed revenue from ceded lands. Lingle had promised during the campaign to pay the amount but later deferred to the Legislature.

"The House felt it was a legislative prerogative," Namuo said. "I think we're close to settlement."