Maui mayor seeks to boost budget by 10 percent
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
With a booming economy generating rising property and hotel room tax income, Mayor Alan Arakawa yesterday proposed a 10 percent increase in Maui County's annual budget.
The $367 million spending plan for fiscal year 2004-2005 calls for a variety of capital improvement projects, $2 million for a computer-aided police dispatching system and 80 new positions to help meet a growing demand for county services.
Mayor Alan Arakawa said county departments are being overwhelmed by the demands of rapid growth.
With overall revenues up 10 percent, the budget proposes no increases in taxes or fees while dealing with more than $10 million in anticipated employee wage and benefit increases and a net $2 million reduction in income because of a newly approved increase in real property tax homeowner exemptions.
Arakawa said county departments are being overwhelmed by the demands of rapid growth.
"The public and my department heads are screaming for help," the mayor said.
The budget proposes 40 part-time workers to help maintain parks on the weekends and holidays, 11 new positions to speed up service at the county's Maui Mall service center and eight positions to address the growing backlog of Planning Department permit requests.
The Maui County Council's Budget and Finance Committee will hold public meetings on the fiscal year 2004-2005 budget. All meetings begin at 6 p.m. The meetings are:
Also proposed are staff positions for the new West Maui Senior Center and for the proposed police dispatch system.
Seven public meetings set
The system, known as Police CADS, would utilize global positioning and real-time mapping, records management, reporting and intelligence, Arakawa said.
"Not one department is getting everything they wanted, yet every department is getting some money to improve services," he said.
As for cuts, Arakawa said he plans to cut the Maui Visitors Bureau budget from $3.6 million to $3 million.
The mayor said tourism is booming and that the cut simply reduces the county's allocation to levels that existed before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Council Chairman Dain Kane said yesterday that he had not had a chance to study the mayor's spending proposal and was not ready to comment.
Other budget highlights include:
- $9.86 million for Central Maui sewage system improvements, including $7.36 million for the replacement of the Wailuku force main, a project that aims to prevent sewage from reaching the ocean.
- A $400,000 increase in Community Partnership Grant financing for nonprofit agencies, from $1.1 million to $1.5 million.
- $611,500 for the operation of a new helicopter air ambulance service that will be co-financed by the state.
- Up to $1 million for a portion of the cost to acquire Mu'olea Point, a 70-acre shoreline property near Hana that includes the site of King Kalakaua's summer home.
- $700,000 for land acquisition and planning for a new Kaunakakai fire station.
- $550,000 for the design of the first of a three-phased Kihei Regional Park, including the area's first gymnasium complex.
Reach Timothy Hurley at (808) 244-4880 or thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com.
