Posted on: Wednesday, June 30, 2004
City budget takes effect; council aims at line-item vetoes
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
The city's new annual budget kicks in tomorrow with the start of the fiscal year, but the long fight over the $1.5 billion spending plan still has a few rounds to go.
City Council leaders hope to overturn some or all of Mayor Jeremy Harris' vetoes on 11 budget items in three bills and say they have until July 21 to take action.
Not everyone is sure that's the case, however, and a new fight may be brewing over the deadline itself. Some administration officials believe that once the budget takes effect tomorrow, it's too late to challenge the vetoes.
City Corporation Counsel David Arakawa did not return calls seeking his interpretation. Harris is due back at City Hall today after a trip to Boston for a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Harris trimmed $703,000 from the council's budget and vetoed various spending restrictions he said were problematic — and in some cases illegal.
The restrictions would limit the way money is spent for islandwide residential recycling, for the trolley that runs from Kaimuki to Waikiki, and for several cultural groups and festivals.
A vote to overturn a veto would need support from at least six of the nine council members.
"My feeling is that the council passed bills that are in the best interest of Honolulu, and so the vetoes deserve to be overridden," City Council Chairman Donovan Dela Cruz said.
Harris says the council is trying to use one restriction to illegally steer a key recycling contract to a company that wasn't the lowest bidder. But council members say the problem is that the low bidder has been cited for health, safety and building code violations.
The restriction would bar any company that has "had any violations issued by federal, state or city agencies in the year preceding" the contract award.
Harris said that the language is so vague, it could bar anyone with a traffic ticket, and that it's illegal to add such criteria after companies have turned in their bids. The contract could be worth up to $2 million per year.
Another restriction would require that $240,000 budgeted for public transit be spent to subsidize the trolley, which is popular with many residents and businesses along the route.
But Harris says the council should have added money for the trolley instead of diverting it from the city's bus system. The restriction would trigger cuts to bus service and violate the city's agreement with the bus drivers union, he says.
The council also restricted more than $400,000 for culture and arts programs to ensure that certain groups and events receive money. But Harris says that left no money to pay for day-to-day operations of the office overseeing such programs, or to maintain statues and other artwork.
The restriction would set aside at least:
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
