Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell hasn’t totally hit the pause button for redeveloping the city’s biggest entertainment venue.
The mayor Monday said he will request $45 million in his upcoming fiscal year budget to advance the plan for replacing Neal S. Blaisdell Center.
About $30 million would be to finish design work, and $15 million would be a placeholder for initial construction work, according to city Enterprise Services Director Guy Kaulukukui.
Caldwell updated the initiative to redevelop the Blaisdell at a news conference focused on dispelling public perceptions that city finances are on shaky ground amid obligations that include paying to finish rail construction over the next six years and starting to operate an initial segment of the line perhaps at the end of this year.
“There’s a perception that’s repeated around the island, and the state of Hawaii, that says somehow that our city’s finances are in dire straits — they’re in jeopardy because of rail, the cost of rail, the cost of operating rail — and that’s just simply not correct,” the mayor said at a news media gathering in his office.
Caldwell and the Honolulu City Council in November approved contributing $214 million in city tax
revenue to help pay for
the over-budget $9.2 billion East Kapolei-to-Ala Moana rail project, mostly being paid for by a state general excise tax surcharge
on Oahu.
The $214 million can be spent in annual increments up to $26 million, and would be financed by bonds that get repaid from general city funds mainly generated through property taxes.
Redeveloping Blaisdell’s 22-acre campus was projected to cost $773 million. The facility, which dates to 1964, was expected to close in November for three years of work that included replacing a domed arena, an exhibition hall and parking structure. Water features, garden walkways, five restaurants or bars, a new sports pavilion attached to the arena and a renovated concert hall also are part of the plan.
However, three weeks ago Caldwell announced that he was deferring the project because contractor bids for the last phase of rail construction were delayed, thus presenting uncertainty for city spending needs.
Caldwell, whose term as mayor ends in January, also said at the time that he is hopeful a future city leader carries out the Blaisdell plan, at least in part.
To date, the Caldwell administration has spent $16.9 million on the project — $4.8 million on a master plan and the rest on a feasibility study, a 30% schematic design and a detailed budget.
Finishing the design and having some money in the budget for construction would be more of a phased approach in line with what Caldwell described as fiscally prudent municipal
operations.
As evidence of healthy city finances, Caldwell noted that the city’s rainy day fund has grown to $120 million from $30 million since he
became mayor, while two rating agencies gave the most recent city bonds their second-highest rating earlier this year.
Nelson Koyanagi, city budget and fiscal services director, said unfunded retirement liabilities held the city back from achieving the top rating.
Roy Amemiya, city managing director, said future generations aren’t being burdened by rail spending because city debt is projected to decrease over
20 years starting in 2025.
Caldwell said he won’t be proposing any property tax increases in his upcoming budget for the fiscal year that begins in July.
Increases last year, which were applied to resort property as well as residential properties worth over
$1 million but not claimed as a primary residence by their owner, helped put the city on solid financial footing to cover rail and other expenses, Caldwell said.
Still, the mayor has critics over city finances.
Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi, who opposed the $214 million in city taxpayer funds for rail, contends that the city wouldn’t be in good financial shape if parks and roads were maintained to higher standards.
“Rail is a real problem,” she said. “I don’t know
how we’re going to pay for everything.”
On the mayor’s Facebook page, Stephen Hazam posted this comment in response to Monday’s news conference: “How about the health of our City and County infrastructure? Do you think we are investing enough in maintenance?”
