PCENRM Meeting: Bill 183 Sewer Rate Increase Postponed to Sept 15, 2026
PCENRM Meeting: Bill 183 Sewer Rate Increase Postponed to Sept 15, 2026
The Policy Committee on Environmental and Natural Resource Management (PCENRM) of the Hawaiʻi County Council met on September 1, 2026, at 1:18 p.m. (delayed from the scheduled 12:30 p.m. start) to consider Bill 183, which would increase wastewater service rates and establish a new hotel service class. After public testimony and departmental presentations, the committee voted to postpone the bill to its September 15, 2026 meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Brianni Kobayashi Kualii (General Manager, SCP Hilo Hotel) opposed the bill, stating that the hotel uses 32% less water than the national hotel median, removes 2.2 pounds of trash per guest stay (over 200,000 pounds total), and has achieved EarthCheck silver certification. She argued that a flat hotel class rate penalizes conservation and urged a performance-based rate structure.
- Matthew Pickett (Hilo Hawaiian Hotel) opposed the bill, noting a 78% increase in year one and a 189% increase by year five (from roughly $145,000 to $500,000 annually). He argued the hotel class lacks a published cost-of-service basis and requested the effective date be moved to July 1, 2027, to allow time to pass costs to customers.
- Barbara Bell (resident of Puako, South Kohala) supported the bill, emphasizing the need for the wastewater division to become self-supporting and stop relying on the general fund. She suggested future amendments for short-term vacation rental rates and recycled water rates.
- Georgine Adams (resident of Mauna Lani Resort, Puako) supported the bill as a first step toward sustainable funding, noting the importance of continuous and reliable funding for wastewater infrastructure.
- Kaikola McClellan (on behalf of Outrigger Hospitality Group and Hawaii Hotel Alliance) opposed the bill, calling the hotel class a “super tax” with rate increases over 300%. He noted that short-term rentals (more numerous than hotel units) are not included, and argued the bill threatens local jobs and mid-market hotels.
- Cyrus Johnson (private citizen) opposed the hotel class, stating it unfairly targets Hilo hotels that serve local families and visitors, and suggested deferring the bill.
Discussion Items
- Department Presentation: Director Dan Gervin and consultant Art Griffith (FG Solutions) presented the wastewater rate study. They explained that the hotel class rate is based on higher biological oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSS) in hotel wastewater due to restaurants, laundries, and high occupancy. The study projects that without rate increases, the general fund would need to contribute $65 million over five years; with the proposed rates, the general fund contribution would drop to zero by 2031. Current revenues cover only 52% of operating costs. The proposed residential rate increases from $52 to $63 in January 2027, reaching $125 by 2031.
- Council Questions: Councilmember Houstis noted that the rate study did not include data from Hawaii American Water, the other private wastewater utility on the west side, and questioned the completeness of the comparison. Councilmember Inaba opposed moving the bill forward without the study being provided to the council beforehand, and noted that the projected Honolulu rates (used in the presentation) did not match his knowledge of actual Honolulu bills. Councilmember Kimball requested the integrated wastewater management plan be presented before further action. Councilmember Onishi questioned efforts to expand the sewer system to bring in more users, noting the Hilo plant has capacity for 5 million gallons per day but currently treats only 3 million. He also suggested reaching out to state legislators for funding.
- Motion to Postpone: Councilmember Houstis moved to postpone Bill 183 to the September 15, 2026 committee meeting. The department agreed to provide the rate study and requested information ahead of the next meeting.
Key Outcomes
- Motion to postpone Bill 183 to September 15, 2026, was approved by a vote of 7 ayes (Councilmembers Houstis, Kagiwada, Kimball, Kānealiʻi-Kleinfelder, Inaba, Onishi, Kierkiewicz). Councilmembers Villegas and Galimba were excused. The bill will be reconsidered at the next PCENRM meeting.
Meeting Transcript
Aloha, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for your patience. Today is September 1st. The time at 2026, and the time is 118 p.m. Thank you for all of those of you who've been waiting for this committee meeting. So we're running a little behind today. This is the eighth session of the policy committee on environmental and natural resource management. Joining me here today in Hilo Chambers are Council Member Galimba, Councilmember Kimball, Councilmember Kanye Lee Kleinfelder, Councilmember Inamba, Councilmember Oneshi will be joining us in a moment. Councilmember Kirkowitz, Councilmember Houstis, and Councilmember Kagiwara. My name is Rebecca Viegas, and I will be the chair of the committee this meeting. This meeting, this meeting today. At this time, we'll go to statements from the public. Thank you so much, Chair. Noting that we do have a handful of testifiers via Zoom. We have a couple here in the Hilo chamber, so we'll start with them. The first of which is I believe it's Brianni Kobayashi Kuali to be followed by Matthew Pickett. Ms. Kuilee, when you're ready to begin, you can press that green button at the base of the mic to turn it on. Introduce yourself, and you'll have three minutes. Aloha, Chair and members of the council. Aloha. My name is Brianni Kobayashi Kualii, and I'm the G general manager of SCP Hilo Hotel. And for those of you who may not know, SCP Hilo Hotel is the first property in the entire state of Hawaii to achieve a silver benchmark recognition through Earth Check, which is the world's leading sustainability benchmarking and certification organization for both travel and tourism in the world. We have worked hard for this distinction because SCP at Hilo SCP Hilo is not a slogan. It's measurable, accountable, and built in the way we operate. She's excited too. For those who might not know, we've also eliminated single-use plastics for all of amenities, water bottles. We provide filtered water stations. Our solar panels provide more than 10 megawatt hours of energy. And I can take her. And through our Every State Does Good program, every time a guest checks in with us, we uh average tourist brings about 1.1 pound of trash, and we physically remove 2.2 pounds of trash every time a guest stays with us in partnership with Hawaii Wildlife Fund. So this partnership has helped us to remove more than 60 tons of marine debris, so close to 200,000 pounds of trash so far. Um our most recent wastewater bill reflects this story. In our 128-room property, SCP Hilo Hotel is actually 32% below the national hotel median for water consumption. 32 cent percent below. And we work hard to be as sustainable as we can, as I mentioned earlier. We're doing what we can and we're constantly asking businesses and visitors in Hawaii to do the same, to waste less, to consume less, and to take responsibility for our impact. But this bill does create a hotel wastewater class and charges hotels a higher rate simply just because we are hotels. And it doesn't distinguish between a hotel that conserves aggressively like ours and one that does not. And I believe this is where the policy gets it wrong. If one hotel consumes dramatically less water than another, I don't believe uh its commitment to conservation should become irrelevant just because it's a hotel. If the goal is to protect our infrastructure and our resources, then I feel the actual rate of consumption should matter. We understand that infrastructure costs money, and we're not asking to avoid our responsibility or for someone else to pay our share, but for a smarter rate structure that would consider actual consumption, consider verified conservation performance such as ours, consider uh a conservation credit or a performance-based adjustment for businesses like ours that demonstrate other using your resources. Um if we invest in solar, eliminate plastics, reduce our water use, and track our environmental impact and become the first ever in the state to use this to in hotel in Hawaii and use 32% of water. I want that to matter. And I don't want the message to be that we don't reward this. Uh Hawaii County has an opportunity to create a policy that does more than just collect revenue. I believe it can really influence behavior. Um reward conservations, and we can all have a reason to conserve more. Uh sorry. We're just trying to be the example, and we don't want to punish the example.
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