It is about time to count the money and see how much we have left.
No, not the family bank account that is already busted, but the state treasury. How is it doing?
The Legislature’s two money committees — Finance in the House and Ways and Means in the Senate — have published reports on their prospective version of the budget.
Both hail the fact that for the first time in nearly five years, the state is not running a deficit.
"Things are getting better," notes the House report.
The state’s all-time best year was fiscal year 2008, when the state picked up $5.2 billion. It is expected that state finances will again do that well this fiscal year, meaning that it has taken four years for state revenues to recover from the 2008 recession.
Before the state bureaucrats start ordering rounds for everyone at the bar, there is great penny-pinching ahead. The House notes that in 2008, the state Agriculture Department was packing a budget of $16.5 million, while the current budget is $9 million.
Rethink cheering the new lean and mean Ag Department, because it is the department that checks the accuracy of all gas station pumps in Hawaii. Because of budget cuts, there was only one person on Oahu to check the pumps, and for years the neighbor island gas pumps went on the honor system. The new budget would include money to expand the pump inspector force to include Hawaii, Maui and Kauai.
The lack of inspectors has had other impacts. You may recall that this is supposed to be the year of the big "shovel ready" construction plan to get new government projects out the door and into the hands of contractors who will hire more workers to save our moribund economy.
The House observes that across the state, "construction projects were being delayed due to the lack of inspectors available to provide timely safety checks of elevators to ensure compliance with regulations." The House is proposing a special fund to hire more inspectors, but the savvy legislator would be the one who makes sure his or her "shovel ready" projects are all for single-story buildings.
Some of the job creating, however, does give you pause. For instance there is Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s emergency proclamation last year to move 400 endangered nene geese away from the Lihue, Kauai, airport. It has now gone from an $800,000 program to a five-year, $4.7 million plan. That comes out to $11,700 per goose.
That is nothing compared to the state’s cost for handling the 150 incarcerated youths held in the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility. The House reports that the annual cost is $168,000 per youth.
"Aside from the expense, incarceration has proven to be the least effective means of dealing with delinquent youth and creates negative results," the House says.
Sometimes when all you want to do is save money, it winds up costing you millions.
For instance, the Senate committee notes that last year when the Legislature announced that it was reforming civil service pensions for future retirees, no one figured out that the computers had to be reprogrammed. This year the retirement system sent the Legislature the bill for $6.03 million in reprogramming expenses.
Over at the University of Hawaii, the professors have been enjoying a restoration in their pay, which had been cut to help balance the budget. The committee report notes that the state had incorrectly estimated how much to pay back the profs, so this year the Legislature is cutting the university budget by $3.09 million. And the UH lost an additional $5.9 million for overpaid furlough expenses.
The Senate committee did appear more cranky than usual.
Noting that the state Department of Education is supposed to spend 70 percent of its budget in classroom expenses, because that is the law, the Senate complained that the DOE isn’t doing it.
"Your committee is confounded by the department’s apparent disregard or ignorance of laws that govern it," the committee said, adding that it hoped the DOE would "review this law and plan accordingly."
If only our banker would just send us a sharp note and admonishment to "plan accordingly" if we glide over the limit in our checking account.
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Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.
