Caldwell: Brace for Cuts in Honolulu City Services
UPDATED 9:36 p.m.
Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell refused to sign the city鈥檚 budget into law, throwing yet another jab at a city council that he thinks is being reckless with taxpayer dollars.
On Friday, Caldwell held a press conference to announce his decision not to sign Honolulu鈥檚 and .
The spending plans will still pass into law without his signature, but he said he wanted to send a clear message to Honolulu City Council members and their constituents that they鈥檙e the reason municipal services, such as bulky item trash collection, might have to be scaled back in the coming year.
鈥淢y budget was a bare bones budget,鈥 Caldwell said. 鈥淚t was basically what we鈥檝e been living with from 2009 after the financial meltdown. Not a lot of new stuff. (It was) focused on core city services, road repaving, sewer improvements, making sure our parks are maintained, those kind of things. Not nice-to-haves, but absolutely-have-to-haves.鈥
Caldwell and his administration have been at odds with the City Council ever since he introduced his inaugural budget on March 1. His spending plan included a nickel per gallon hike in the gas tax, which the .
After that the fight turned to how the city should fund increasing labor costs and grants for nonprofits.
The council reduced the funding and tightened the restrictions on the money the administration planned to use for union salary increases, which are estimated to cost about $37.5 million in the coming year. Council members also included more than $8 million in earmarks for various nonprofits that was in addition to a voter-approved fund that already had $5.5 million waiting for the same purpose.
Both actions deeply disturbed the mayor, causing him to publicly admonish the council for its 鈥渙ut of control鈥 budget practices.
But the scolding had little effect. The council largely ignored Caldwell鈥檚 concerns, passing its own spending plan on June 5 that included extra pork for nonprofits and limits the amount of funds available for increasing union costs.
On Thursday, Caldwell sent a five-page, single-spaced letter to the council once again voicing his displeasure with the budget. In it he details specifically what impacts the council鈥檚 decisions will have, including those that could cut down on city services and prevent Honolulu from hiring part-time lifeguards and other public safety personnel.
The mayor also took a shot at the City Council over its meddling in the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation budget. HART is a semi-autonomous agency that was created to build and operate the city鈥檚 $5.2 billion rail system.
Caldwell said he doesn鈥檛 believe he or the City Council has the authority to modify HART鈥檚 budget while the project is under construction. Once rail is completed, then he said the council can oversee that budget in a similar fashion as it does with TheBus.
鈥淚鈥檓 not interfering with the HART budget, and I think the council shouldn鈥檛 either while the system is being built,鈥 Caldwell said. 鈥淟et鈥檚 keep politics out of the decision making process.鈥
UPDATED Caldwell said he didn鈥檛 want to veto the bill because he preferred to work with the council to address his concerns. He added that he might not be able to prevent the council from overriding his veto.
The City Council voted unanimously to pass the budget. 1
Read Caldwell鈥檚 letter to the council here:
He also sent a letter saying he wouldn鈥檛 sign the $16 million legislative budget. Read it here:
