Advocacy Updates

City Council Passes Budget, No Increase To Real Property Taxes

Each year, the city adopts three budgets. The Executive Operating Budget explains where the city gets its money and how it will be spent to pay for day-to-day operations of the executive branch. The Legislative Budget describes how the city council and its activities will be funded. The Capital Budget lists and describes long-lived projects, such as highways, parks and buildings, which the city will undertake during the next six years, as well as identifying in which years appropriations will be required. The Capital Budget is commonly referred to as the “CIP” for Capital Improvement Program.

Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) proposed an executive program and budget focused on core services, repair and maintenance of physical infrastructure, public safety, and transportation equity, while cognizant of the need to plan for and invest in the future. One key change was that despite incorporating negotiated salary increases due to collective bargaining, the mayor’s budget holds the general funded spending by executive agencies to just a 2.2% increase over FY15 and 3.8% increase from all sources of funds.

Unfortunately for the mayor, the Honolulu City Council omitted some projects in the final budget. Funds were cut for improvements at Thomas Square to restore Honolulu’s oldest park in time for its 175th anniversary, celebrating the restoration of the monarchy of King Kamehameha III. The council also cut all funding that the mayor says is needed to purchase affordable housing and shelter the homeless population. The mayor does appreciate the priorities that were funded, including road repaving, park improvements, sewer upgrades and funds for TheBus service.

The city council passed an operating budget of $2.33B and a capital budget of $940M, including $4M to install photo-voltaic at H-POWER, $10M to improve the sewers in Chinatown, and $500,000 for improvements at the Honolulu Zoo. City council amendments included $3.5M for dawn-to-dusk coverage at lifeguard stations and mobile response units, $400,000 for mobile hygiene centers, $500,000 to conduct a historic resource survey to identify historic properties, scenic and cultural landmarks. and to evaluate their eligibility for a Hawaii or National Registers of Historic Places designation within the one-half mile radius around each transit station, and $300,000 to continue contra-flow project on Farrington Highway in Nanakuli. The council’s legislative budget was passed at $19.2M.

Click here to view more details on the 2016 budget Bills 13, 14 and 15.

 

 


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