Council Vice Chair Wants to Reopen Budget to Avoid Trucking Sewage
After weeks of back-and-forth finger-pointing, the Honolulu City Council might be ready to give Mayor Peter Carlisle the money he asked for to build new sewage infrastructure.
Only now, it’s probably too late.
The possibility of a supplemental budget was among the discussion topics at Wednesday afternoon’s meeting of the council’s Public Works Committee. That process would have to be initiated by the administration, but council Vice Chair Ikaika Anderson said he’d be open to the idea — if it means the city won’t have to truck untreated sewage from Sand Island to Honouliuli, Waianae and Kailua.
The problem is that the city’s charter would likely for sewage projects this year because it would be tough to argue that the situation is unanticipated, considering the council nixed $26 million from the administration’s capital budget two months ago.
Still, Anderson told Civil Beat in an interview after Wednesday’s meeting that he plans to send a communication to Carlisle, the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services, the Department of Environmental Services and Corporation Counsel on Thursday inquiring about a supplemental budget.
Anderson said he’d be open to funding just a few million dollars for a lime stabilization system that could be up and running in as soon as eight months — or even the full $26 million that would also fund a second egg-shaped digester at Sand Island. Council Chair Ernie Martin told Civil Beat a supplemental budget like the one proposed by Anderson and Tom Berg was “a possibility” and that it’s something he’d follow up on with Corporation Counsel.
During the hearing, Anderson questioned Environmental Services Director Tim Steinberger about why the lime stabilization system wasn’t described in the budget line item and wasn’t explained to council members during the budget process. He also pointed to Carlisle’s May 31 letter that included lime stabilization among the possible alternatives if the council refused to reinstate the $26 million. That change of tune by the mayor was revealed by Civil Beat last month.
Otherwise, the meeting fell into a familiar pattern: Council member Romy Cachola and Steinberger trading barbs about who is responsible for the current sewage problem. Cachola’s district includes Sand Island, and he’s long been a vocal critic of Synagro, the company that operates the egg-shaped digester.
The meeting also included pitches from companies that say they can handle the city’s sewage sludge in an environmentally-friendly way for a fraction of the cost.
