Vacant city positions and the ability to fill them was debated yesterday as the City Council's budget committee continued work toward finalizing the coming fiscal year's budget.

City department heads appeared before the budget committee, chaired by Councilman Todd Apo, to discuss proposed cuts to their budget and the possible transfer of funding for unfilled, vacant positions.

The city administration has maintained there is a need to keep funding available for the vacant positions to accommodate a large influx of qualified candidates.

Some city council members questioned the need to continue to carry over hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for positions that go unfilled.

Kenneth Nakamatsu, director of the city Human Resources Department, said a recent audit found that "too many" city positions are filled by contract workers, a situation the city administration seeks to reverse.

"Since I've been director here, there has been a concerted effort to get directors to fill those (vacant positions)," Nakamatsu said. "The mayor has been touting the city as a great place to work. In order for that to work we need to boost the morale and in order to boost the morale, we need to make sure all the vacant positions are filled. There is a culture of change we are trying to institute."

Council chairwoman Barbara Marshall and Apo acknowledged the need to adequately staff departments, but they raised the issue of large vacancy numbers persisting for years.

"We know these jobs are important but the question is, are you going to fill them?" Marshall said during yesterday's proceedings.

Apo urged the need to discuss ways to address vacancies while spending taxpayer dollars efficiently.

"We haven't seen any department come in and fill half the vacancies they've said they needed to fill," said Apo.

In February, Mayor Mufi Hannemann proposed a city budget of more than $2.5 billion, with much of the money earmarked for transit, roads and sewers.

He proposed an operating budget of $1.839 billion and a capital improvements budget of $831.5 million.

Hannemann did not request any increased tax rates or fees to support his budget.

The operating budget would be 12 percent more than the current one, and covers fixed expenses such as employee pensions and arbitrated pay raises.

The mayor's proposed capital budget is 15 percent more than what he proposed last year.

Hannemann is also asking for a $100 real property tax credit for qualifying homeowners.

The City Council has until June 15 to act on the budget ordinances and set the property tax rates for the next fiscal year, which runs from July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009.

Last year, the budget decreased the property tax on an average single-family home, but increased the average sewer fee by a much greater amount.