Posted on: Thursday, May 1, 2003

Proposed cuts to city budget draw protests

By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer

The City Council killed a proposal for a $2 counter service fee at satellite city halls, but left a curbside recycling proposal alive at a public hearing on the city budget yesterday.

After almost six hours of testimony, council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi suggested not passing $50 million worth of fee or tax proposals and sending Mayor Jeremy Harris' $1.178 billion budget back without those revenue sources.

"I hate to call it a budget. It's a phantom budget. It's a stealth budget," Kobayashi said. "It's balanced with money that does not exist."

A few hours later, after listening to six people testify against a real property tax rate increase, council members said they would try to reduce the taxpayers' burden by adjusting the proposed rates for the upcoming fiscal year in the Budget Committee.

Kobayashi had asked to postpone voting on the rate increase beyond the June 15 deadline to pass the budget, but was informed the council must make a decision on the tax rates on June 4.

Councilwoman Barbara Marshall, who has proposed eliminating the need for a residential tax increasing with a steeper increase for other types of properties, said the rate increases proposed by the administrations, "are not acceptable to us."

Marshall, who suggested several of the cuts to the administration's operating budget to alleviate the need for fees and tax increases, told dozens of people who came to urge the council not to cut money from specific areas, such as the Office of Economic Development and neighborhood boards, that the council had tried to cut with a scalpel, not a machete.

The council Budget Committee is proposing the cuts as a way to avoid new user fees and raising the real property tax rate, as proposed by Harris. So far, the council has proposed trimming about $1.6 million from Harris' proposal.

The fees, except for the satellite city hall fee, will go back to the Budget Committee for amendments before the full council votes June 4. If the committee holds the budget, as Kobayashi hopes, the mayor's budget will pass as is.

Chairman Gary Okino saw problems with holding the budget in committee, and said, "I hope the administration comes forward and works with us to find a solution, even if it means raising more taxes."

Earlier yesterday, Harris told the Advertiser editorial board the council had made specific line-item cuts that would mean not being able to pay city utility bills for the year, maintain its vehicles on time or promote recycling.

Plans to cut $500,000 from the Office of Economic Development would end Sunset on the Beach, sports tourism marketing and other initiatives. That prospect drew dozens of people to testify in support of continuing the programs. At its liveliest point, a hula halau performed for the council in defense of the torch lighting and hula performances at Kuhio Beach in Waikiki.

Several people said they would rather pay more taxes than face the cuts proposed by the council.

For single-family homeowners, Harris' proposed rate increase is 10 cents per $1,000 of the assessed value of property, or about $40 a year for a $400,000 home.

Neighborhood Board members testified against a $30,000 cut to their postage. Ben Kama Jr., executive director of the Neighborhood Commission, said the cut could violate the city charter, since the boards would not be able to mail out meeting notices and agendas.

About $685,000 has been cut to make up for the rejected $2 counter fee. Of that, $96,000 will close at least one satellite city hall, and could mean closing another or reducing hours at several sites.

Only two people testified against the counter fee, which would have applied only to transactions that could be completed by mail or over the Internet.

Former Wai'anae Neighborhood Board chairwoman Cynthia Rezentes said the fee would hurt people living in high-poverty rural areas, particularly those who do not have checking accounts or Internet access. She said avoiding the $2 fee could still result in costs for postage, money order charges or transportation to locations where the payments would be accepted for free. "Does this really help out the citizens where every penny matters?" she asked.

Downtown Neighborhood Board Chairwoman Lynn Matusow said bluntly, "I believe this bill is dumb."

She said some people prefer transactions in person because they don't trust the mail, they need a receipt or they don't want to wait.

"We should not have to pay a fee to the city for the privilege of paying our taxes and other fees," she said.

A proposal that would add residential curbside recycling twice a month and reduce regular garbage collection to once a week will advance to the Budget Committee, but several council members expressed reservations about it.

Rezentes said she supported the bill's intent, but worried that the plan to use the same garbage bin for trash, green waste and recycling could create a health risk and contaminate the recyclables.

Under the administration's plan, garbage would be picked up once a week, with alternating green waste or recycling collection the next day. A second garbage pickup each week would cost $8 a month. Additional carts for green waste and recyclables would cost $70.

For those who opt not to pay that, Rezentes said, "What do individual households do with municipal solid waste until they can use that same cart again?"

She said there is nothing to stop people from throwing wet or sticky material into the carts, opening up the possibility of cross-contamination with garbage and green waste or recyclables.

Former Councilman Mufi Hannemann also testified in support of the recycling program, but questioned whether a July 1 start date was realistic. He said rushing programs often leads to cost overruns and change orders, and sometimes causes good projects to become controversial.

He suggested the city proceed carefully and diligently and perhaps roll it out in phases.

Councilman Charles Djou agreed, while Kobayashi, Marshall and Council Chairman Gary Okino also expressed concerns about the bill. Marshall suggested it be rewritten from scratch, and Kobayashi agreed.

Correction: Councilwoman Barbara Marshall said during Wednesday’s public hearing on the city budget that she was opposed to removing a proposed $2 fee for counter service at satellite city halls. A previous version of this story said otherwise.