Mayor's recycling plan rejected by City Council
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris' proposal for a mandatory recycling program for some 160,000 Honolulu residences officially died yesterday when the City Council Budget Committee would not include it in the council's budget proposal.
In his State of the City address in March, Harris championed the program as a way to help the environment and reduce the city's need for landfills. But City Council members earlier expressed reservations about the program, citing health problems from eliminating one of two weekly trash pickups as well as the burden of an $8-a-month fee to restore the second pickup.
HARRIS
Yesterday, with little discussion, the Budget Committee members killed the Harris proposal for the year by refusing to incorporate the program in the budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said the administration was dismayed at the council's action.
"We are very disappointed that our community did not have an opportunity to move into a program that really made sense, that would greatly reduce the waste going to our landfills, and at a very low cost," Costa said. "It would have provided residents with the opportunity for curbside recycling and their additional pickup."
After the meeting, city Managing Director Ben Lee reiterated concerns expressed by Harris that the budget the council is working on is $17 million out of balance and would lead to layoffs. He said a Harris veto of the budget was a possibility.
The Budget Committee comprises its chairwoman, Ann Kobayashi; its vice chairman, Romy Cachola; and council members Charles Djou, Barbara Marshall and Rod Tam. Marshall was absent yesterday, while City Council Chairman Gary Okino sat in on most of the proceedings.
KOBAYASHI
The decision came on the second of two days of Budget Committee hearings centered on Harris' proposed $1.178 billion operating budget package. The committee will vote Tuesday on the council's version of the budget. The entire City Council is scheduled to vote June 4 on the budget, which must be approved by June 15.
Harris had proposed a recycling program that was to start July 1. It called for eliminating one of two weekly curbside trash pickups and replacing it with alternating greenwaste and recycling curbside pickups. Residents had the option of keeping the second weekly trash pickup with an $8 fee. About 80,000 households, mostly apartments, would not have been affected.
The Budget Committee yesterday also did away with the Harris proposal to raise tipping fees for commercial refuse haulers, despite Okino's objection that part of the increase would have allowed the council to restore 41 police and 44.5 firefighter positions cut from the administration's budget.
The committee approved a property tax rate increase, introduced by the administration, that would raise $23 million.
Okino wanted to provide $1.6 million for police and fire operations by adding 2 cents to the rate increase, but his proposal was rejected.
"If we think (public safety) is important enough, I think raising property taxes is an option," Okino said.
Kobayashi said the council's top priority was to protect residents from increased fees and taxes. Harris' budget package includes almost $50 million in increased fees and taxes, Kobayashi said. "People just feel like we're hitting them in all directions."
The committee also rejected Harris' proposal to charge a fee for commercial vehicles to enter Hanauma Bay and cut in half a fee for developers to connect to the city's wastewater facility system.
All told, the committee cut more than $20 million of the $25 million in fees proposed by Harris.
Among those that survived was a modified version of an increased spaying and neutering fee that includes a subsidy for low-income pet owners, and increases to building permits and the highway beautification fee.
The committee also passed bills increasing adult bus fare to $1.75 from $1.50 and charging a fee for special events at the city's sports complexes and fields.
