Honolulu mayor’s budget proposal increases investment in facilities and public safety

Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi on Friday unveiled a proposed $3.6 billion operating budget for next year, with more money for facility maintenance and public safety and about $80 million in compensation for potential hazards from the pandemic. secured the dollar.

Mr. Blangiardi held a press conference Friday afternoon with Department of Budget and Finance Director Andrew Kawano to present the highlights of the budget.

Blangiardi has proposed spending a total of about $3.6 billion on operating costs, including employee salaries, and about $920 million on projects such as road improvements and sewage treatment plant upgrades.

“This is not just a question of balance of numbers. This is a question of meaning, purpose and impact,” Blangiardi said Friday.

The operating budget is slightly larger than last year’s $3.4 billion. The capital improvement budget is approximately $420 million lower than last year.

Under Blangiardi’s proposed budget, public safety departments, including police, fire departments and the Department of Emergency Services, would receive about $677.6 million. Most of them end up being sent to the police.

The Honolulu Police Department’s budget will increase from about $354 million this fiscal year to about $371 million, mostly in administrative services and salary increases, which the mayor said were previously negotiated.

“We are doing everything we can to make the police station as attractive and viable as possible,” he said.

Equipment maintenance and purchase costs will be more than triple what they were in previous years.

Blangiardi is proposing more than $44 million in capital spending this year, compared to about $12 million in each of the past two years.

“Since the pandemic, we have experienced slowdowns and production capacity issues for many suppliers of heavy equipment and light equipment vehicles to the city,” Kono said at a press conference.

As an example, the city has ordered 73 new garbage trucks in the past five years, but only 17 have arrived so far. The latest of these was delivered in November 2020. In a February press release, Deputy Director of Communications Ian Sheuring said: This means the truck will be driven for longer than its normal lifespan.

“As a result, these trucks are increasingly prone to breakdowns and require more maintenance than new trucks,” he wrote. As a result, Solid Waste Management could earn about $30 million in additional revenue this year.

Transportation costs are typically one of the largest categories of city spending. In Honolulu, Blangiardi’s proposal would spend about $427.7 million, or just under 12% of the operating budget, on mass transit services such as TheBus and Skyline. This percentage is the same as last year.

The largest categories of proposed spending, as always, are fixed costs for employee benefits and debt servicing. They amounted to $844.7 million and $677.6 million, respectively, representing approximately 42% of the total operating budget.

Blangiardi and Kawano said the proposed capital improvement budget is lower than last year, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be less commitment to investing in infrastructure.

“It’s because of the nature of capital improvements,” Kawano said, referring to the sometimes complicated financing schedule.

And Blangiardi said another reason the capital budget has been reduced is because the city wants to use different financing methods to build affordable housing, which the council needs to consider. It is necessary to approve the bill, he said.

“But don’t confuse that with an ever-greater commitment to building what’s right and what works in the marketplace. In fact, our commitment is greater than ever,” he said. Told.

Approximately $22.8 million in capital funds will be allocated to affordable housing development this year, with approximately $205 million carried over from this year. Approximately $55.8 million will go toward park improvements, including the design of softball lights at Kamal Park.

Just under half of the proposed capital investment plan, approximately $445 million, would be earmarked for wastewater improvements. The city broke ground Friday morning on a six-year project to renovate the Honuliuli Wastewater Treatment Plant at a cost of approximately $517 million.

This release of the Mayor’s budget is the first step in a process that will continue over the coming months. The mayor’s proposal will be discussed and approved by the City Council before the new fiscal year begins on July 1st.

One big expense the city still has in reserve is hazard pay paid to union members who worked during the pandemic.

About $80 million in federal pandemic funds had been set aside in backlogs, with the money earmarked for other projects like building affordable housing and improving parks.

The federal funds were given to the city to support projects whose funding was buried by pandemic-related expenses. However, the city cannot be allowed to hold on to this federal funding forever. Imminent deadlines require the money to be “obligated” by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026.

Funding for many projects is unlikely to be spent by then, according to a November letter from the mayor’s office to the City Council.

Blangiardi said Friday that the total amount to be paid to union members is still unclear as negotiations are ongoing.