Funds for small boat harbors return in supplemental budget

The Maui News
Thursday, April 1, 2004

By MARK ADAMS, Staff Writer

HONOLULU - Money for improvements at the Lahaina and Maalaea small boat harbors and to the boat ramp and wharf at Hana Bay has been restored in the supplemental budget moving through the state Legislature.

State Sens. Shan Tsutsui, Roz Baker and J. Kalani English all sit on the Senate Ways and Means Committee and lobbied extensively for restoring $10 million for small boat harbors across the state that was removed in the House version of the budget bill.

Baker said she appreciated the work done by her Maui colleagues and the money committee's chairman, Sen. Brian Taniguchi, "for appreciating the desperate situation of Maui's small boat harbors and helping us with significant funding."

Baker said Ways and Means Committee members toured Maui last fall, "and our needs made an impression on them."

Included in the funding package is $900,000 for a new restroom facility at Lahaina Harbor; $770,000 for electrical repairs and a temporary sewage pump-out station at Maalaea Harbor; and $1 million for improvements to the boat ramp and aging wharf at Hana Bay. Some of the money for the Maui projects comes from federal funding sources.

The remainder of the $10 million will be available for improving small boat harbors statewide, including the Maui harbors, through the state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation.

House Rep. Brian Blundell, whose district includes both Lahaina and Maalaea, said he spoke with several members of the Senate committee in support of the appropriation.

The representative also contacted interested constituents asking for their help, and about 25 responded by sending e-mails to the panel.

"I'm very, very happy that the money was put back in again," Blundell said. The Senate finished working on its version of the budget bill Tuesday. It now moves to a joint Senate and House conference committee, which will work out funding differences as it shapes a final spending package by the end of the legislative session in early May.

That means a budget battle has been won, Baker told constituents in an e-mail, but the war isn't over.

"Now it's important that the Senate version (of the budget) prevail in conference," she said. "We've passed an important hurdle, but we've still got work to do."

Tsutsui said Wednesday he is very glad to see the funding restored. "We have expressed concern for small boat harbors throughout the state," Tsutsui said. "The three senators from Maui kept an eye on it, and now that it's in, it should be safe."

West Maui residents and organizations had been particularly concerned about money for the small boat harbors.

"The county and state have spent literally thousands of hours planning some of the improvements that were to be implemented with a small portion of the $10 million that was cut from Governor Lingle's supplemental budget," said Ezekiela "Zeke" Kalua, executive director of the West Maui Taxpayers Association. "These improvements are necessary to ensure the safety of our visitors as well as the efficient use of the few resources here on these islands."

Kalua noted that a recent report commissioned by the state showed that taxpayers paid out $33,000 last year just to settle claims brought by people injured because of potholes in pavement at the state's harbors.

Kalua said improvements are needed to the restroom, parking areas, fuel station and wastewater services at both harbors, calling the conditions "deplorable." He added that the pier at Hana Bay is sinking while the pier walk at Mala Wharf in West Maui has been fenced for years.

"Our current capacity will hold for only so long," Kalua said, noting that fickle tourism remains the state's main source of income. "Inevitably, the ambiance of the islands will not outweigh the inconvenience of the infrastructure."

Kalua said interested constituents on Maui will closely track the harbor funding as the supplemental bill moves through the approval process.

"If they need oral testimony, we'll fly over," he said.

Tsutsui reported Wednesday that another Maui project is getting a boost from the Senate, the Binhi at Ani Community Center near Maui Waena Intermediate School in Kahului.

There is now $350,000 appropriated by the Senate for completion of the center, which has been in the works for nearly two decades and is nearly finished.

"These funds were a top priority for me this session," Tsutsui said. "The Binhi at Ani Community Center will serve as a significant place for Filipino culture and heritage, along with functioning as a valuable events complex here on Maui."

The state originally allocated $1 million for the project several years ago, while Maui County added another $600,000.

But Maui attorney B. Martin Luna, who has served as a point man on the project, said Native Hawaiian burials were discovered when the site was excavated and the building had to be relocated, resulting in the added expense.

Maui County is also being asked to appropriate $350,000 for completion of the project because of the uncertainty of the state's funding picture this year.

Luna said those behind the Binhi at Ani Community Center - which means "you reap what your sow" - look forward to its completion.

He also emphasized that the center will be available to all segments of Maui for things including wedding receptions, baby luaus and other family or group gatherings once completed.

"We've always emphasized that it's open to the entire community," Luna said, which is why the word "community" was included in its formal name.

Copyright © 2003 — The Maui News

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