Miffed City Council members chastised Mayor Peter Carlisle on Thursday for what they saw as an inappropriate letter threatening to either veto or sue over the budget.

City Managing Director Douglas Chin, after being stung with the criticism at a Budget Committee meeting, responded that Carlisle was only trying to offer his position, not issue any threats.

At issue is a May 4 letter Carlisle sent to each of the nine Council members urging them to restore proposed cuts and stop budget transfers involving the mayor’s agricultural liaison, the Office of Economic Development and the Mayor’s Office on Culture and the Arts.

The economic development and culture-arts budgets have been targets for budget cuts by Council members long before Carlisle became mayor at the end of 2010.

But Council Chairman Ernie Martin said language used by Carlisle in defense of the budgets was "very inappropriate" and "very disrespectful" to Council members, and premature given that the Council will be deliberating on the budget for another month.

The new budget needs to be in place when the 2013 fiscal year begins on July 1.

"The letter … made threatening overtures as to contemplating the actions by the mayor, which is within his right, and I can understand the right of having to exercise those particular powers should the Council adopt a budget that he feels the administration cannot support. That’s the right of any mayor," Martin said. But the timing was "inappropriate" while the Council was still in the thick of budget deliberations, he said.

Martin pointed out that the Budget Committee, under Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi, had restored nearly all of the proposed changes raised in the letter even before it was sent.

The letter signed by Carlisle states that "it is my position that these proposed amendments constitute an improper attempt by (the Council) to reorganize the executive branch via the budget, in violation of the Charter."

The Charter allows only the mayor to reorganize or change the duties and functions of existing departments and agencies, create or abolish positions, or make temporary transfers of positions between departments or within a department, the letter said.

If the Council were to proceed with the proposed changes, "I will be left to consider my options under the law."

In response, Chin said, "I’m sorry you consider this a threat."

The letter talks about Carlisle’s concerns that the position in the three agencies could be defunded or that the changes could create a new bureaucracy, Chin said, "so I don’t think he was talking about vetoing or doing anything worse than that."

Chin said he did express the administration’s concerns about the cuts to Council members prior to Carlisle’s letter.

"I think this is stating in writing what was already in the public record," he said.

Martin said Carlisle sent similar letters to the Council last year in which he issued "premature threats" to veto measures proposed by Council members.

By not allowing his Cabinet officials to discuss concerns with Kobayashi, Martin said, the mayor also showed "a lack of confidence in his own administration."

He added, "If the mayor himself doesn’t have confidence in his own team, why send them down here?"

Martin also said there is a lack of face-to-face dialogue between himself and Carlisle, noting that he has met with Gov. Neil Abercrombie more than a dozen times since becoming chairman last year while sitting down with the mayor "less than a handful of times."

Kobayashi, a former state senator, said that while people consider the Legislature and the governor to be equal branches of state government, "at the city it seems people think we are here to work for the mayor, and that isn’t right because we are a separate, independent body."

She added, "It’s good we have a check and balance. We’re not a rubber stamp."

Council members Ikaika Anderson and Romy Cachola also expressed disapproval at Carlisle’s letter.

Carlisle, at an unrelated news conference later, said he had not heard the exchange and declined to answer questions.

Later, in an email, the mayor said "if any member of the Council wants to speak with me, my door is open."

Carlisle said the budget process is ongoing, and "I will await the return of the finished budget on June 6 before I make any further comments."