Mayor's budget plan adds curbside recycling
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
In a move to force O'ahu residents to recycle trash, Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris yesterday proposed eliminating one regular rubbish pickup a week and replacing it with green waste and curbside recycling collection.
Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser
Residents who want the second trash pickup would have to pay $8 a month.
Mayor Jeremy Harris unveiled his 2004 budget yesterday.
Harris also announced increases for all property taxpayers except apartment owners, an attempt to balance the $1.178 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2003-04, which starts July 1.
Apartment and condominium owners would see a 4.5 percent reduction in property tax rates, while other property owners would see increases ranging from 2.7 percent for single-family homes to almost 15 percent for commercial properties. Coupled with a rise in property values, the rate hikes are projected to bring in about $43.5 million for the fiscal year.
"It's hard to raise taxes, but I think we've done it in a fair way, and I think the increases are modest," Harris said. The mayor unveiled his proposals as part of his fiscal vision for the nation's 12th-largest city. Yesterday was the deadline for Harris to turn over his budgets to the City Council, which will begin hearing about the impact on city departments tomorrow.
• Replace one trash pickup a week with green waste and recycling collection. Homeowners charged $8 a month to keep second regular trash pickup. • Property tax rates will drop for apartment owners, but increase for everyone else, including residential homeowners. • The city's $1.18 billion operating budget is about $62 million more than the current operating budget. But the $288 million construction budget is $167 million less.
City Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi, who said yesterday she had been briefed about the budget by the city administration, wondered why the property tax increase was necessary, given that her committee had been told a few months ago the city was in good financial shape. "How did we get from there to here?" she said.
Budget highlights
The increase would be a double whammy for property owners already facing higher assessments this year, said the former Democratic state senator. "(The rate increase) won't affect them this year, but they're certainly going to feel it when their next tax bill comes."
Councilman Charles Djou said yesterday he found the tax increases disappointing, especially when it appears department budgets will be cut only 1.7 percent.
"You're telling me you can't find another $25 million in savings in a $1.2 billion budget?" said the former Republican state legislator.
A property tax rate hike had been expected; what came as a surprise was Harris' bid to increase recycling efforts "dramatically," revamping the way more than 160,000 Honolulu residents dispose of household trash.
Under the plan, trash will be picked up as usual on the first pickup day of the week. The second day will be converted to a green waste or recycling pickup using the same trash receptacle. The city's free monthly bulky item pickup will continue.
• Bus fares: Adult monthly pass will rise from $27.50 to $30. • Hanauma Bay: Visitor fee will increase from $3 to $5, and the commercial vehicle fee will be reinstituted. • Highway beautification and abandoned vehicle fee: Charge will increase from $3.75 to $5 per vehicle. • Refuse disposal: Charge will increase from $72.25 to $84.25 per ton. • Satellite city hall counter fee: $2 charged for each transaction that could be done by mail or online. • Wastewater disposal facility: Charge to developers will rise from $1,126 to $4,641 per hookup. • Spay/neuter fees: Increases will recapture costs to veterinarians.
Harris said about 30 percent of the trash sent to H-Power or landfills is green waste, and sorting out recyclable plastic, glass and paper would reduce dramatically the waste going to landfills.
New fees
The need is pressing, as the city's only landfill, at Waimanalo Gulch, already has reached capacity and will be expanded to last only five more years.
"Right now, we don't have mandatory recycling, and basically what this really does is it tells people it's not only nice to recycle, it's required," Harris said. "You're no longer going to be allowed to throw away green waste or glass or plastic or newspapers in your regular garbage." Harris expects that about half of Honolulu residents will pay the $8-a-month fee to continue the second regular trash pickup.
Harris' operating budget proposal is $62 million higher than the current budget, but his proposed $288 million construction budget is $167 million lower, with a focus on sewer, road and transportation improvements rather than big-ticket items.
In other efforts to confront what the administration estimates to be a shortfall of more than $100 million, money requests from city departments were trimmed. The departments had wanted $928 million; Harris' budget gives them $822 million, or 1.7 percent less than in the current budget.
Harris said the city also would eliminate almost 1,000 vacant positions to avoid laying off city workers. He also announced several new or increased city fees, including a $3 increase for the adult monthly bus pass.
Also to help, $48 million will be shifted from the sewer and solid waste funds into the general fund, in a strategy that could raise objections from the City Council.
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