Special fund for city park signals failure

The people who use Central Oahu Regional Park — and there are many — are elated by the enactment of a bill that creates a dedicated fund for user fees charged at the park.

The money would be used expressly at CORP, rather than going into the general revenue pot tapped for other purposes.

This likely will sound attractive to other communities. But we restate our misgivings about this approach to maintenance of a recreational resource.

It adds a layer of bureaucracy that city government doesn’t need. And special funds cloud overall fiscal planning and are often raided for other purposes, anyway.

Finally, the fact that such legislation was even proposed marks a failure of parks maintenance policy, a core function of county government. The basic budgetary process should allot enough for parks’ upkeep, period.