Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration has released a $5.14 billion budget package for fiscal year 2026 that the city claims will address affordable housing, homelessness and public safety services on Oahu.
On Friday the city offered its proposed $3.93 billion operating budget and a $1.21 billion capital improvement program that, if adopted, begins July 1.
Blangiardi’s proposed budget is a more than 9% increase over the city’s current $4.7 billion budget, which the mayor officially signed and adopted in June.
The Honolulu City Council is expected to review the mayor’s new spending plans in coming weeks.
But the mayor’s latest budget comes as the city administration and Council have noted looming budgetary constraints for the upcoming fiscal year.
Those costs include siting the city’s next solid-waste landfill on Oahu; operating and maintaining ongoing city rail services toward downtown; negotiating collective bargaining agreements with city worker unions; and implementing a total increase of 115% for sewer fees across all rate-paying classes over a 10-year period to address rising operational costs and fund critical sewage treatment projects within the city’s $10.1 billion capital improvement program, scheduled for 2025 to 2040.
On Monday the Mayor’s Office declined to comment on its latest multibillion- dollar budget package. Instead, the city administration asked that questions over the next city budget be deferred to a scheduled noontime Wednesday news conference at Honolulu Hale.
Still, according to a news release, the city’s spending priorities for fiscal year 2026 involve “significant funding allocations for affordable housing.”
The city also asserts its latest budget emphasis is on the “planning and design of transit-oriented communities near rail stations, along with larger allocations to address homelessness-related issues and increased funding for public safety agencies, including millions for capital improvements to Honolulu’s police, fire, ambulance, and ocean safety facilities.”
“Our fiscal year 2026 budget is a bold and strategic investment in Oahu’s future — one that prioritizes housing, public safety, and critical infrastructure while maintaining our commitment to fiscal responsibility,” Blangiardi said in a statement.
In all, the city’s $3.93 billion operating budget proposal represents an increase of almost 8.3% over the adopted $3.63 billion budget for the current fiscal year, the city said.
The proposed $1.21 billion CIP budget for fiscal year 2026 is about 15.2% more than the adopted $1.05 billion CIP budget for the current fiscal year, the city said.
The major estimated resources to fund city programs and activities include $1.77 billion in real property tax revenue, $1.24 billion in estimated unreserved fund balances carryover from FY2025, and $108.2 million in Oahu transient accommodations tax revenue, the city said.
At $976.7 million, which represents 24.8% of the proposed 2026 operating budget, the single largest category of expenditures is primarily funding for city employee benefits, including health care benefits, retirement benefits, post-employment benefits and salary adjustments, the city said.
Debt service comprises roughly 18% of the operating budget, at $696.8 million, including principal and interest payments of $503 million for general obligation bonds and $193.8 million for sewer revenue bonds, the city said.
Spending on operational costs for the city’s public safety and public health agencies — namely, the police, fire, Emergency Medical Services and ocean safety — represents roughly 17% of the proposed operating budget, at $657.2 million, the city said.
Allocated funding for TheBus, TheHandi-Van and Skyline mass transit programs comes in at $476.7 million, which is approximately 12% of the proposed operating budget, the city said.
The city says its proposed CIP budget of $1.21 billion is allocated across key infrastructure and public service projects. Those include:
>> $533.7 million for refuse and sewer projects mandated by a 2010 federally mandated global consent decree for sanitation functions.
>> $207 million for bikeways, highways, streets, bridges, storm drainage and street lighting dedicated toward public streets.
>> $143.8 million for affordable housing and homeless service facilities under the city’s Human Services.
>> $86.1 million for parks, the Neal S. Blaisdell Center, Honolulu Zoo and golf courses.
>> $86 million for the acquisition of buses and handi-vans, bus stop and ADA access improvements, and upgrades to the Middle Street Intermodal Transit Center.
>> $82.5 million for police, fire, ocean safety, ambulance, telecommunications, and traffic and flood control improvements.
>> $73.3 million for civic center upgrades, transportation electrification, energy conservation projects and enhancements to bus and traffic facilities, public buildings and municipal parking.
Other budget highlights include:
>> $244.2 million to fund major CIP at the Honouliuli and the Sand Island wastewater treatment plants.
>> $100 million for affordable housing mixed-use development, and $10.4 million for the renovation and/or development of low-income affordable housing units.
>> $76 million for the Salt Lake Boulevard widening project.
>> $74.2 million for the acquisition of new buses and handi-van vehicles.
>> $65 million for park improvements across Oahu and the acquisition of preservation and conservation lands.
>> Over $28 million for homeless-related services and other activities to enhance public safety and health.
In addition, the proposed operating budget includes $10 million to cover any losses of federal funding for key programs, especially funding for personnel costs under those programs, according to the city.
On Monday the Council commented on the mayor’s latest budgets.
“As we engage with the complexities of the FY2026 budget, the Honolulu City Council is committed to making prudent financial decisions that maximize resources while investing in impactful programs that enrich the lives of our residents,” Council Chair Tommy Waters told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “We acknowledge the financial challenges many local families are facing, and the Council is committed to implementing thoughtful strategies that expand housing access, decrease the cost of living, and enhance public safety.”
Council Budget Committee Chair Tyler Dos Santos-Tam told the Star-Advertiser his office is doing a “deep dive” on the mayor’s newly released budgets.
“We’ll be asking tough questions and also asserting our priorities, but at the end of the day, the final product will reflect common ground between the needs of the administration, the departments and the public,” he added.
