The Hawaiian Humane Society may see more money next year to restore services that were reduced in 2013, under a preliminary draft of the city’s $2.28 billion operating budget approved by the City Council Budget Committee on Wednesday.

The draft also shows Mayor Kirk Caldwell may need to scrape up funds to pay for seven staff members specializing in housing.

Bill 13, the operating budget, and a host of other budget bills are expected to go before the full Council for the second of three needed votes April 22.

The city now pays the humane society $2.3 million for animal control services, about 31 percent of the group’s $7.3 million operating budget. When, in 2013, the nonprofit asked for additional funding to cover the rising costs to meet the scope of its work, city officials balked.

The two sides agreed to allow the group to reduce the amount of field services it provided.

But Councilwoman Kymberly Pine proposed adding "at least $700,000 out of current expense … for animal care and control services."

Council Budget Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi agreed, noting that the organization has not seen an increase in the contract in five years.

On April 1, the humane society and West Oahu developer D.R. Horton-Schuler Division announced that the nonprofit’s long anticipated West Oahu campus will sit on 5 acres donated by Horton-Schuler on its Hoopili project site in Ewa. Pamela Burns, the humane society president, told reporters she was hopeful the city would consider additional funding for the new site when the time comes.

Customer Services Director Sheri Kajiwara told the committee, however, that the city’s current contract with the humane society "has been an islandwide contract" and that the adminstration does not feel a new West Oahu facility will warrant an increase in the price of the contract. Kajiwara said her agency and the humane society had not discussed an increase in its contract amount previously.

"We are not looking to increase funds because of the creation of the new facility on the west side," she said.

But Kobayashi said the addition is an attempt to restore previous services, not enhance them.

Councilman Joey Manahan said the additional services are needed in his Kalihi district "where we get a lot of calls about feral animals." Without the contract, he and constituents have had to call Honolulu police "and they’re already stretched out over the district and when they have to actually come and answer a call for a feral animal, it really takes away from them being on the beat or whatever it is they really have to be doing."

But Councilman Trevor Ozawa said he supports the administration’s stand on the humane society budget.

"I think they need to live within their means, too," he said.

Kobayashi also proposed adding $80,000 into the operating budget for a new crowing rooster and feral chicken control services contract.

In summer 2013, the Caldwell administration cut its $80,000 contract with its rooster-chicken control services vendor as a budget constraint measure, a move that irritated Council members who viewed the service as critical for Oahu residents.

During budget proceedings at this time a year ago, the Council chose to reinstitute the $80,000 appropriation but nine months into the 2015 fiscal year, the administration has not hired a new vendor.

Now the Budget Committee wants again to have the administration seek a new contract as a pilot program.

Kajiwara said the city was unable to find a pilot program this year but will try again in the coming year. The Department of Customer Services already is talking to those affected by the problem, as well as prior vendors, extermination companies, Boy Scout troops and others who may be able to help with a possible solution, she said.

"We’ve looked at different options," Kajiwara said. The administration intends to use the money "if we can find a program that can be started or implemented in this fiscal year," she said.

Also Wednesday, the committee took out funding in the Department of Community Services budget for a group of employees tasked with managing housing and homeless issues.

Kobayashi proposed deleting $616,488 for the seven positions that make up the new Office of Strategic Development, which was created by the administration last year to work on developing affordable housing units across Oahu.

Community Services Director Gary Nakata said that the office was created because his staff did not have the expertise to deal with the complex issues of how some $30 million-plus in funding for affordable and homeless units can and should be spent.

But Kobayashi said the administration did not consult Council members before creating the office.

What’s more, the city managed to find funding on its own to pay the salaries of the seven employees during the current fiscal year.

"So you can continue to fund it as you have been," she said.

Several other Council members expressed similar displeasure.

"We are the last to learn what is being proposed when we go out into the community," Councilwoman Carol Fukunaga said.

Meanwhile, the committee added $130,000 in its own Council budget for a new employee, possibly two, who will work with the administration and other government agencies on affordable and homeless housing.

Also, the committee voted to delete $1.08 million for the purchase of front-end loading trucks to replace or repair an aging fleet.

City Environmental Services Director Lori Kahikina said she’s OK with the cut. If the city’s current fleet of trucks breaks down completely, she will issue a contract to keep the service going as mandated by the courts, despite the administration’s reluctance to continue it. Kobayashi has long been a critic of front-end loader service, arguing that it unfairly benefits a small group of Oahu residents, and historically has deleted funding for new trucks.

The city had planned to eliminate front-end loader service for about 181 condominiums, apartments, other multifamily properties and nonprofit groups beginning this past January. But that plan has been held up, at least temporarily, due to a legal challenge by the blue-collar government union United Public Workers. UPW argued that the change needed to be negotiated with the union.

A judge granted a restraining order preventing the city from stopping the service, forcing the city to continue it.