Police, fire jobs may go unfilled due to budget cuts

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris' proposed budget does not provide enough money to fill vacancies for police officers and firefighters, and eight new civilians hired by the police department could be laid off, a City Council committee was told yesterday.

Police Chief Lee Donohue and Fire Chief Attilio Leonardi told the Council's budget committee they were concerned because cutbacks come when many of their uniformed personnel could be called into active duty in case of a war against Iraq.

Donohue said 180 of 1,789 police officer positions are filled by reservists, while Leonardi said 76 of 1,080 firefighters could be called to active duty, joining a dozen who have already been called. Five firefighters have been on active duty since Sept. 11, 2001.

The council budget committee has been hearing from all the city departments since the mayor unveiled his $1.178 billion operating budget proposal on March 2. Part of the administration's strategy for balancing the budget has been to eliminate money for 955 vacant positions across all departments.

At $156.6 million, the police department's budget is 1.3 percent less than last year, and far short of the $210 million the department had sought. The fire department saw an almost 1 percent increase, but its budget of $61.3 million is $2.3 million less than requested.

"We don't agree with the budget that has been submitted by the administration," Donohue said. "The city has removed funding for 41 sworn positions and we would like to see that restored."

He added that the administration also has cut money for eight civilian positions filled in January, meaning that those employees may have to be laid off.

Reports of the vacancy cutbacks took members of the budget committee by surprise because they had been told by the administration that money would continued to be allocated for uniformed vacancies.

"We were assured that public safety is a priority. It doesn't seem that way — 41 positions cut, eight layoffs, no equipment. How can they operate?" asked Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi.

Donohue said losing the money for 41 positions is "really going to put us in a bind, and naturally we're going to have to cut back on some services."

The police department has 265 vacant uniformed positions, with recruits currently in training expected to fill 155 of those positions. The administration's budget proposal allows the department to add an additional 69 officers.

However, he said that the position cuts would not jeopardize public safety and that he would return to the Council with a request for more money before that occurred. He said he will likely have to come back to the council with a supplemental budget request to cover overtime expenses, which are usually paid with money allocated for unfilled positions.

The fire department will lose 46.5 vacant positions, including 34.5 fire fighters, two civilians and 10 new uniformed positions. Leonardi was not asked about public safety, but was asked whether covering for the vacant positions would leave firefighters burned out and demoralized.

"It's an unknown factor. Some of it we can absorb and some of it we can't," Leonardi said. "It will increase our overtime, for sure."

Ivan Lui-Kwan, city director of budget and fiscal services, said he had told the council members that "nearly all, but not all" uniformed vacancies would be preserved. "We looked at each department individually and tried to accommodate what their needs are," he said.

Lui-Kwan said in the case of the fire department, money would not be allocated for half the department's 89 vacancies, but that includes 10 positions that have not yet been created and 15 firefighters for a Mililani Mauka station that is not operating.

"We thought it would be appropriate that there would not be funding for a station that is not yet operative," he said.

As for police, Lui-Kwan said no money was set aside for the 41 officer positions because the police had wanted the $1.5 million that was to be pay for the officers switched to the department's expenses allotment.

But police Major Susan Ballard said the $1.5 million was needed to cover licenses and to protect some of the department's grant money. "We absolutely had to have that money," she said.

She said she thought the shift in spending would leave only civilian positions and not police officer positions without money budgeted for them.

Council Chairman Gary Okino asked how much of the police budget was used to provide officers at Sunset and Brunch on the Beach, as well as other city enterprise services projects. According to Donohue, the department had $304,000 budgeted for special events this fiscal year, including $91,000 for the beach events.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.