Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s proposed operating budget for the next fiscal year adds up to nearly $3 billion, covering a myriad of costs tied to maintaining and, in some cases, expanding city services. Related to Honolulu’s half-completed elevated rail line is a relatively tiny slice of spending earmarked for two new bus routes.
Slated among the budget’s new initiatives is a
$6 million allocation to launch routes aimed at connecting passengers of a partially operational rail line with their final destinations. Given the city’s ongoing push to move Oahu toward more multimodal — and less car-centric — transportation, this bus initiative is essential.
According to the Honolulu Authority for Rail Transportation’s timeline for the 20-mile line, the first
11 miles — from East Kapolei to Aloha Stadium — will be ready for passengers by December. At either end of that rail segment, buses would be waiting, departing every 10 minutes for stops near future rail stations and other destinations.
If the initiative works as envisioned, the bus routes could serve as a much-needed multimodal stopgap until the rail line is fully operational. It’s been nearly a dozen years since Oahu voters signaled support for the city to build rail, so the prospect of being able to travel its full length, even if initially by a rail-bus combo, is long-awaited.
One bus route would run from the stadium area to Ala Moana Center — rail’s planned terminus — with stops at Chinatown and downtown. The other would run from a station near the University of Hawaii-West Oahu campus to Ka Makana Alii shopping mall and Kapolei Commons.
In a larger slice of spending on new items, Caldwell’s budget calls for $71 million to be used for train system operation and maintenance during its first six months. Given Oahu’s relatively flat property tax picture — along with expected economic hits related to the coronavirus outbreak — it’s unsettlingly unclear where the city will find additional funding.
The proposed fiscal 2021 operating budget, which tops 2020’s by 5%, includes some price hikes in fees, such as for golfing on municipal courses, and for city permits. But there’s no proposed increase in a major source of revenue: property tax levies.
Among possible budget cuts should be a further scaling back — or postponing — of envisioned improvements at aging Blaisdell Center. Amid financial uncertainty over the $9.2 billion rail line — and with a new Aloha Stadium complex in the works — Caldwell announced last month that much of a planned Blaisdell makeover would be on hold. Yet, his budget request for capital improvement projects inexplicably includes $43.6 million in the coming year for the center’s concert hall.
Caldwell leaves office in January — and five of nine City Council seats are up for grabs in this year’s elections. If mayoral and Council candidates intend to hold steady on the city’s reluctance to raise property taxes, they must also explain how they intend to cover future annual costs for rail operations and other proposals tethered to hefty price tags.
One piece of Caldwell’s budget that should be protected from trims is a proposal to expand the Honolulu Police Department’s ranks with 95 new positions. As HPD contends with a recent uptick in major crime, it’s also attempting to fill upwards of 200 job vacancies.
Moving forward, HPD forecasts that the department could be fully staffed within five years. Also by 2025, if projections hold, the Kapolei-Ala Moana rail line will be fully operational — and future rounds of city elections could further change the makeup of mayoral and Council leadership.
