Mayor Peter Carlisle said yesterday he is strongly opposed to public worker furloughs and wants to eliminate them in the next city budget.

"Furloughs were invented by the devil and should go back to the purgatory from where they came from," Carlisle said during a news conference in his office to introduce Cabinet nominees.

Carlisle said fiscal responsibility and government efficiency are going to be a big focus of his administration, in light of a $100 million budget shortfall he predicts the city will face next year. He said he would "seriously" take a look at a citywide hiring freeze.

But he said his financial plan will not include furloughs. The city’s current furlough schedule ends June 30, at the end of the fiscal year.

"I don’t believe that’s healthy for the government, and I don’t think it does any justice or service to the private sector," Carlisle said. "They have to keep working (on furlough days), and if they can’t get us to help them, everything just backs up."

He said city government employees enjoy "incredibly generous" amounts of sick time, scheduled holidays and regular vacation days.

Carlisle also announced eight more appointments to his administration, including new directors for the Departments of Parks and Recreation, and Community Services.

Gary Cabato, who served at the Department of Parks and Recreation for 11 years as executive assistant, was nominated as the agency’s director. Cabato has been responsible for the parks facilities maintenance program, which earned praise from the National Parks and Recreation Association.

Sam Moku, who has been director of the state Home Ownership Assistance Program since 2005, will head the city Department of Community Services. Under his leadership the state office partnered with the city’s Section 8 program to offer the first homeownership opportunity on Hawaiian homelands to a native Hawaiian Section 8 recipient.

Other designees in his administration include:

» Bridget Holthus, as deputy director of Community Services. She has been special assistant and deputy attorney general under state Attorney General Mark Bennett.
» Albert Tufono, who has been chairman of the Hawaii Paroling Authority, will be deputy director of Parks and Recreation.
» William Balfour, a Parks and Recreation director under former Mayor Jeremy Harris, will be special assistant to the department.
» Lori Kahikina-Moniz, acting chief of the city Division of Collection System Maintenance, will be deputy director of the Department of Design and Construction.
» KaiNani Kraut, who has served as a private project manager and a transportation engineer with the Federal Highway Administration, will be deputy director of the Department of Transportation Services.
» Forest Frizzell, who has worked as a private information technology and security account manager in Honolulu and California, will be deputy director of the Department of Information Technology.