Honolulu Council Asserts Authority, Votes on Rail Agency’s Budgets
City Council members took it upon themselves to advance a $17.5 million operating budget, and $355 million capital budget for the semi-autonomous transit agency set to be launched on July 1. The spending plans head back to committee for another vote before the budgets can be passed into law.
The move is significant because for weeks, council members have argued with the administration over whether they had the right to approve the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s budget at all.
City Council Budget Chairman Ernie Martin said that the council took the initiative Wednesday to consider the two bills relating to HART’s operating and capital budgets even though Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle‘s administration had excluded them from his budget plans, which require council approval.
“If we had proceeded in the manner the administration proposed… we would not be having this discussion today,” Martin said. “We are retaining our right to review and approve these budgets.”
While the council’s handling of the HART budget appears to be a compromise with the administration, it’s not clear what would have happened had council members rejected the spending plans.
Still, the council didn’t simply green-light the budgets. They passed amended versions of the budgets that aim to ensure some council oversight of HART’s spending.
For example, , pertaining to the capital budget, stipulates that bond money may be encumbered — or committed — but not actually spent before rail planners get a guarantee of federal funding in the form of a Full Funding Grant Agreement.
In response to a question by City Council member Ann Kobayashi, a vocal rail skeptic, City Transportation Director Wayne Yoshioka said he can’t think of a time when encumbered money wasn’t spent.
“I don’t know the entire history of the City and County of Honolulu,” Yoshioka said. “In my experience, no, I don’t think I’ve seen it.”
Yoshioka said rail planners are concerned about “the condition that we couldn’t bond until certain dates were met.”
Chief rail planner Toru Hamayasu indicated that his Rapid Transit Division — which will split off to become HART — can’t necessarily promise to meet that condition without knowing what will happen in the future.
“I can’t say I’m comfortable (but) we will try our best to follow the City Council’s intent,” Hamayasu said. “I think that we have several ways to address that, and we have to look into that… One is looking at the use of cash instead of bonding money as long as we can. And that’s what we’re doing now, but we have to look at the cash flow to see if we can stretch that. Other ways are to delay the encumbrance of some funding, if there are any contracts that we can postpone. The other is to work with the FTA to see if they can move up the Full Funding Grant Agreement schedule.”
Bill 34 would also impose monetary fines for any individuals who spend on rail without City Council approval.
Council members also finalized their appointment of three HART board members on Wednesday, which means there is just one vacancy on the board. The nine board members already in place will select the final appointee.
