Council budget includes property tax increase
By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Capitol Bureau
Owning a home and riding the bus will be more costly under the budget passed by the Honolulu City Council's Budget Committee yesterday.
Advertiser library photos
Final approval is expected next Wednesday of the $1.2 billion city operating budget for the fiscal year starting July 1.
Mayor Jeremy Harris would not say yesterday if he would veto the budget.
Council Chairman Gary Okino said he will not veto the budget.
The 4-0 vote came after committee Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi announced that $8 million had been found by using a short-term loan to refinance the city's debt for capital improvements.
The budget passed yesterday maintains a $23 million property tax rate increase proposed by Mayor Jeremy Harris. Single-family homeowners would see an average 2.7 percent increase in their tax rate, while commercial property holders' bills would jump by an average of 15 percent. Apartment and condominium owners would see a 4.5 percent reduction in tax rates as part of a three-year program to make single-family and apartment/ condo rates the same.
Bus fare for adults will increase to $1.75 from $1.50 under the council proposal.
The committee's budget does not include as big an increase in user fees as Harris had proposed.
Not included was a plan to charge O'ahu residents $8 for an optional second day of garbage pickup that also would have featured a day of recyclables pickup. The committee said it wants to defer implementation of such a program until at least June 2004. It called for a report on how it would operate.
• Property taxes: 2.7 percent increase for single family homes; 15 percent increase for commercial properties; 4.5 percent decrease for condominiums. • Bus: Adult fare increases by 25 cents • Recycling proposal: Trashed
Also gone are Harris' proposals to raise landfill tipping fees on commercial haulers and to charge commercial vehicles that enter Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve.
Budget highlights
During the days of debate over the budget proposal, there had been concern that the council was divided. Because Councilman Charles Djou has mandatory military duty and will be unable to attend next week's meeting, some feared the possibility of a 4-4 deadlock.
The City Charter says that if the council cannot pass a budget, Harris's original submission becomes law.
Harris would not say yesterday if he would veto the budget, as he had threatened to do earlier in the week.
But Kobayashi said she doesn't think the administration would object to the plan to refinance the $8 million in capital improvement debt.
"They refinanced $53 million last year, so $8 million should not be a problem," she said.
However, Harris said he still has a number of concerns, such as his belief that the council has been too optimistic in projecting revenues, including those from bus fares and park fees. He also criticized the council for cutting the Office of Economic Development's budget to the extent that three to five employees will have to be laid off, closing two satellite city halls and reducing road maintenance money, while including money for cultural festivals and planning for a 2005 government conference.
Council Chairman Gary Okino said he believes that all of Harris' concerns have been raised and that he will not veto the budget.
Budget Director Ivan Lui-Kwan said the council's refinancing tactic is "moving toward acceptability."
Okino and Lui-Kwan noted that the downside to refinancing is that bond raters could look disapprovingly on the city's action and lower its credit rating.
