I’ve always appreciated the Kailua Satellite City Hall at the Keolu Shopping Center, which is less than a mile from my house and quite convenient for dealing with the city on matters such asa permit form I needed to pick up the other day.

Nevertheless, I can’t agree with some of my neighbors who are fuming over Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s decision to close the office Sept. 30 in a budget cut to save $200,000.

The mayor said he needs savings to offset a $26 million budget shortfall he projects this year and $156 million next year.

Some members of the City Council question Caldwell’s numbers and suspect his cuts are intended to stick it to Council members who have reined in what they see as tax happiness by his administration.

Whatever the politics, a mayor needs latitude to manage the city’s finances, and neither the Council nor the public can reasonably demand that he both hold the line on taxes and not cut any services.

If we’re going to get our undies in a bunch over everyfailure to fund any service we favor, we may as well plan on signing over our entire paychecks to the city.

All we can ask is that the mayor provide rational justification for his cuts and that they be spread fairly among Oahu’s communities.

Caldwell seems to have met that burden on the Kailua Satellite City Hall, which is one of the smallest with only four employees — all of whom will be offered jobs filling vacancies at other satellite facilities.

According to city Customer Services Director Sheri Kajiwara, the Kailua office serves only 16 residential customers an hour compared with 58 to 78 an hour helped at other Oahu satellite city halls.

Given the disparity, it’s not unreasonable for the city to ask Kailua residents — most of whom visit the Keolu office a few times a year at most — to drive six miles to the larger Kaneohe Satellite City Hall at Windward City Shopping Center.

Satellite city halls were a great innovation in bringing government to the people when the late Mayor Frank Fasi introduced them three decades ago, at a time whenmostbusiness with the city needed to be conducted in person.

But today, much of this business — vehicle transactions, paying property tax or water bills, applying for various city permits — can be done online or by mail.

There’s still enough in-person business that we need satellite city halls, but it’s sufficient that we have them in every region of Oahu rather than in every town.

If the mayor is to deliver the efficient and cost-effective city government we demand, we need to give him some room to manage his resources.

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Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com or blog.volcanicash.net.