COMMENTARY
City committed to saving taxpayer money
By Trudi Saito
Most of the headlines about the proposed city budget we unveiled this week have centered on property taxes and sewer fees. What's important to note is a key point Mayor Mufi Hannemann made in unveiling the budget: "We're not just collecting money, we're saving it."
We presented a four-page list of specific ways we have saved taxpayer dollars, established public-private partnerships to get more for our money and generated new revenue for the city. Those range from getting the city out of direct support for Sunset on the Beach, which had been costing Honolulu taxpayers several hundred thousand dollars a year, to cutting energy costs in city buildings by more than $500,000.
From day one, the Hannemann administration has stressed fiscal accountability. We obtained a bond rating that could save us $300,000 for every $100 million in bonds we issue, and we've had two "clean" audits — one of which was the first the city has had in 10 years. We also have made a conscious, citywide effort to save money, leverage what we have and generate more revenue. (A list of some of those moneywise measures is available on our Web site, www.honolulu.gov/mayor/).
Highlights include:
When he took office in January 2005, Mayor Hannemann knew he was inheriting a financial can of worms, especially with regard to our infrastructure. At the time, we just didn't realize how big the problem was.
While we've been saving wherever we can, we've had to make some tough decisions, knowing they would be unpopular. It's no surprise, for example, that some people object to higher sewer fees. The city had gone years without raising the fees. And the prior administration raided hundreds of millions of dollars from the sewer fund, and instead of fixing and upgrading our sewers, it paid for lavish "nice-to-have" projects such as neighborhood signs. One result of what the Environmental Protection Agency characterizes as "decades of neglect" was last year's Waikiki sewage debacle, something the mayor vowed would never happen again to any future mayor.
We're grateful that responsible leaders such as Council Chairwoman Barbara Marshall and Budget Chairman Todd Apo recognize that we do not propose higher fees or taxes lightly.
It's easy for myopic whiners to snap off simplistic sound bites for the TV cameras and characterize us as spendthrift.
The reality of fiscal responsibility in the face of mounting obligations and responsibility is not nearly as simple. This administration remains committed to saving taxpayers' money, not just collecting it.
Trudi Saito is deputy managing director of the City and County of Honolulu. She wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.
