Worker pay raises leave city budget short $4.3M

By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

Honolulu budget officials told City Council members yesterday that the city faces a $4.3 million shortfall in what it needs to cover pay raises for various public employees in the wake of recent contract settlements.

City Budget and Fiscal Services Director Mary Pat Waterhouse said additional money will be needed to pay for salaries and for the county share of contributions to the state employee retirement system. She was briefing the council budget committee on the latest changes to the city budget.

The council is finishing the spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The council is poised to pass the record $1.3 billion operating budget as well as a $497 million construction budget on June 6.

Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said she was disappointed to learn so late in the process that there wasn't enough money for the pay raises.

"We've been working on the budget for three months," Kobayashi said, but didn't find the shortfall until now, less than a week before the plan needs to be completed.

Waterhouse said she has some ideas about where money can be saved or transferred to cover the pay raises. "I believe we'll be able to find money," she said.

Kobayashi said her staff is prepared to make cuts if Waterhouse can't and that those could include programs trimmed earlier by the council but restored at the request of Mayor Mufi Hannemann's administration.