Councilman says proposal will help ease budget conflict

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

A controversial move to bar Mayor Jeremy Harris from launching new park and beautification projects is meant to avoid a City Hall budget feud and insulate the City Council from pressure to approve unnecessary spending, the proposed ban's author said.

"Right now our fiscal situation is really not good," Councilman Gary Okino said. "The whole point of this is to not spend money on things we can defer."

Harris is scheduled to unveil his new annual spending plan next month. In previous years, council members considered cutting some popular but expensive park projects, then caved in to loud lobbying by constituents, Okino said.

Harris' administration rankled some council members two years ago by sending out 10,000 letters urging residents to oppose budget cuts that Harris said were unnecessary. Budget talks last year also grew very heated.

"We adopted some of these things in an environment where it's hard to say no," said Okino, who was council chairman during last year's budget cycle. He has authored a resolution directing Harris to keep all new park projects out of his spending plan, and says the city must focus on paying off a growing debt burden and taking care of essential services.

But city Budget Director Ivan Lui-Kwan said such a broad ban "short-circuits" the budget process outlined in the City Charter. The administration should be free to propose what it wants, and the council can choose to support, amend or reject those plans, he said.

"You have ultimate control in any case," he told the council budget committee yesterday.

Five council members are up for re-election this year, and cutting individual park projects in the districts they represent could be politically unpopular or cause tension between council members.

Okino's resolution does not carry the weight of a city ordinance, and could prove impossible to enforce. But it could help publicly justify any cuts made.

Council chairman Donovan Dela Cruz and budget chairwoman Ann Kobayashi co-sponsored the measure, and others have voiced support. Some council members worry a ban could delay replacement of run-down facilities at existing parks, however.

The budget panel delayed voting on the measure yesterday but left open the possibility of bringing it before the full council Wednesday or including it in a report to Harris.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.