Budget has plenty of goodies for county

The Maui News
Friday, April 16, 2004

By MARK ADAMS, Staff Writer

HONOLULU - It's like Christmas in April. Just watch out for the Grinch.

The state Legislature wrapped up action on its $3.8 billion supplemental budget Thursday and sent it to Gov. Linda Lingle, and while its future on the fifth floor of the Capitol is a little cloudy, there's plenty for Maui County tucked inside.

There are a couple of "ifs" still out there. But IF the governor doesn't veto the spending package - she has 10 days to decide - and IF available funding meets fiscal obligations still outstanding like pay raises for teachers and blue-collar workers, then the county did well, lawmakers said this week.

"I'm ecstatic," said Maui Sen. J. Kalani English, who said he won consensus for close to $70 million worth of programs and projects in Upcountry and East Maui, Molokai and Lanai.

He spent time between legislative sessions working on his priorities, English said, including bringing Senate Ways and Means Committee members over for a local tour.

"I wanted to put faces to issues," he said. "The upfront work pays off now."

Sen. Roz Baker, who represents West and South Maui, was also pleased.

"I would always like to have more money, but I think overall we did well," she said.

So does Central Maui Sen. Shan Tsutsui.

"We're well represented as far as capital improvements go," Tsutsui said. "Overall, I think it was a good year."

Big-ticket items include $37.5 million for a permanent Paia bypass, $19 million to construct the first phase of a new Kahului Airport access road, money to continue widening Haleakala and Mokulele highways, and $30 million to construct a part of the long-planned Lahaina bypass from Lahainaluna Road to the proposed Keawe Street extension.

There's also $2.5 million to plan the widening of Honoapiilani Highway from Lahaina to Maalaea. But even before there's work on widening the highway, there is $1.5 million to design passing lanes on Honoapiilani Highway between Maalaea Harbor and Puamana.

There's about $20 million for construction and operation of the Kulamalu long-term care facility in Pukalani and $4.2 million for expanding Maui Memorial Medical Center's emergency and urgent care facilities.

On the education front, there's $25 million for the new Maui Lani Elementary School and money for a new girl's athletic locker room and to start building a new eight-classroom building at Baldwin High School. There's $2 million to design and construct a new athletic locker room at Lahainaluna High School and another $2 million for a six-classroom building at Hana High and Elementary School.

At Kahului Airport, lawmakers set aside $21.6 million for a general purpose apron and "Alien Species Action Plan" building as well as $6.7 million for Kahului Airport terminal improvements, including new ticket lobbies and concession and baggage claim facilities, money that will be combined with and sometimes eligible for reimbursement through federal funding.

For Maui harbors, there's $900,000 to construct new restrooms at Lahaina Harbor and $770,000 to improve the piers and electrical system and build a new pumpout station at Maalaea Harbor. There's also $1.35 million for improvements to the Hana Wharf and Small Boat Harbor.

And in South Maui, there's $5.5 million to start design and construction of a new public high school in Kihei.

In the state House of Representatives, South Maui Rep. Chris Halford said he welcomes the improvements, especially a high school that he said "is 10 years overdue."

But Halford was also the only Maui County lawmaker to vote against the budget as it stands.

Halford is a perennial "no" vote on the spending package because he does not believe the Legislature is living up to its constitutional duty of commissioning management and performance audits of all state departments.

"The people of Hawaii deserve to have their money spent well," Halford said Thursday. "We know there are programs and policies that are tremendously wasteful, but we have no means to identify them. I believe hundreds of millions of dollars a year are being squandered because there's no fiscal oversight."

He is also philosophically opposed to the excise tax on food and medical services.

This year, Halford has another objection - the budget is premature.

"It's incomplete at this time," Halford said. "We have many other fiscal bills that are outstanding."

The items include pending pay raises for teachers and blue-collar workers for which the allocations have just been guesstimated, he said.

"All of the elements have not come together yet," he said. "I do not believe this budget will stand as written."

The majority Democrats in the Legislature say they wanted to get the supplemental budget bill to the governor early, because some anticipate a veto and want to still be in session if they need to conduct an override vote.

Lingle now has 10 days to either sign the budget, veto it or let it lie on her desk and become law without her signature.

Lingle spokesman Russell Pang said late Thursday afternoon that the governor has not yet physically received the budget from the Legislature, or the accompanying financial plan that will explain how the items within will be financed, and thus was unable to comment.

But earlier this week Lingle said she had concerns about the budget bill and told reporters there is "a serious possibility" that she will need to call lawmakers back to the Capitol this summer in a special session to fix any flaws her financial team identifies.

Lawmakers are standing behind their budget, however, saying they have historically submitted a well-reasoned financial plan that is balanced as required under state law, and this year is no different.

"We balance the budget six years out," English said, and every year the spending plan proves to be sound. "We don't spend money that we don't have, and we don't do deficit spending. We live within our means."

English said Lingle has chosen to be confrontational in many instances this legislative session, when a calmer approach might have served her better.

"That's been the whole problem," he said. "Our whole constitutional system is based on compromise. When she says, 'It's my way or no way,' she's not acting in a spirit of cooperation. We need to hash it out, come to a compromise and move forward."

There were three other bills sent upstairs Thursday by lawmakers.

One takes money from the state's "rainy day" reserve to fund about $10 million worth of programs, several in Maui County.

The items include $750,000 for Molokai General Hospital operating costs, $750,000 to help run the Hana Community Health Center and $250,000 for the Hana Community Health Center to run a behavioral health services program at Hana High and Elementary School.

English was pleased that he was able to garner so many projects and programs for East Maui.

"I want to make sure people understand that Hana has been neglected for so long, we're trying to catch up on the needs," English said.

Lawmakers are also satisfied with a crime prevention package aimed at the crystal methamphetamine epidemic in Hawaii that was approved Thursday.

The third bill sent to Lingle is an education reform package. Baker says she knows some will be disappointed that the bill does not include a chance for Hawaii voters to weigh in during this fall's elections on creating local school boards.

But Baker called the bill "a good first step" in getting more money to the classroom, improving student achievement and the learning environment.

"Education reform is a puzzle," Baker said, "and we took care of some of the big pieces."

The bill provides $2.5 million for new textbooks as well as money for additional teachers and teacher's aides who will be used to reduce class sizes.

The bill also creates local school "community councils" at each campus in the state that will work with principals in deciding where money gets spent at the local level.

Regarding the budget bill, other Maui lawmakers were also satisfied with how the county did.

Upcountry Rep. Kika Bukoski said getting Maui County projects into the budget is both art and science.

"It's a combination of teamwork and talking to different people, and sometimes not talking to certain people," he said of the work that gets done in the committee rooms, hallways and chambers of the state Capitol. "It's a complicated process that we have to go through in order to get the projects we believe in funded, and whatever I need to do I'm willing to do."

There are many unresolved issues still to deal with before the legislative session ends the first week of May, including resolving a funding dispute for Maui's emergency helicopter ambulance and funding a new Wailea ambulance.

Baker said Thursday that lawmakers are considering inserting new language in a couple of bills still alive that would clarify further that the state can't be sued for failing to provide an air ambulance on Kauai, the only county that would not have an air ambulance service if the Maui project is funded.

Lingle has said she wants language inserted stating that the state "may" provide the service "as funding becomes available."

Democrats have resisted that language because they say it will make the Maui air ambulance service temporary and subject to the whims of the governor each year.

If the language says the state "shall" provide the service, it becomes a permanent part of the executive budget and is automatically funded each year.

Baker said she hopes the additional language now being considered will clarify the issue even further and give Lingle the comfort she is seeking.

"Everyone wants the service," Baker said of the players in the stalemate. She said a helicopter that was being used for the Kahoolawe cleanup could be quickly retrofitted if Lingle will release the $1 million authorized by the Legislature last year. That amount includes money for a Kula ambulance crew that will both serve the helicopter and provide round-the-clock ground ambulance coverage in a region that now is served by a local crew only 12 hours a day.

"The governor needs to act quickly," Baker said.

Mark Adams can be reached at madams@mauinews.com.

Copyright © 2003 — The Maui News

Sen. J. Kalani English
6th District,
Hana, East and Upcountry Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kahoolawe

Return to Sen. English Home Page - KalaniEnglish.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home Bills and Resolutions About Senator English Committees Community Profiles Newsletter Archive News Archive Capitol Web Site Media Photos

Connect with Senator English

OUR DISTRICT