Honolulu Budget Committee Meeting - October 14, 2025
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Honolulu Budget Committee Meeting - October 14, 2025
The Honolulu City Council Committee on Budget met on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, at 9:08 AM in the Council Chamber to consider ten agenda items, including resolutions for police union cost items, grant fund transfers, fare policy changes, and budget transparency bills. The meeting was chaired by Councilmember Okimoto, with Vice Chair Nishimoto and members Kia Aina Talbot, Council Chair Waters, and others present. Several items were passed unanimously, while bills on fare restructuring and budget reporting drew extended debate and were postponed or passed with reservations.
Consent Calendar
- Resolution 25-284: Approved cost items for Bargaining Unit 12 (police) effective July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2029, including 5% across-the-board raises, step movements, and a $1,800 lump sum per officer in 2026. Total salary costs: $221,164,973. Reported out for adoption without objection.
- Resolution 25-285: Authorized a $696,940 transfer from general fund provisions to the Department of Community Services for federal emergency solutions grant matching (dollar-for-dollar). Funds support homelessness programs and three administrative positions. Reported out for adoption.
- Resolution 25-287: Transferred $1 million from Parks and Recreation grounds maintenance to maintenance support services to cover supplies for plumbing, welding, masonry, and carpentry work orders. Amended by a hand-carried CD1 and reported out.
- Resolution 25-262: Repealed the fare box recovery ratio policy for TheBus system, deemed unrealistic and unmet for years. Introducer Councilmember DeSantis Tam noted the policy would force service cuts or fare hikes. Reported out for adoption.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Resolution 25-262: Donald Sakamoto testified in support of the repeal.
- Bill 54 (Fare Structure): Brian Mick, representing the Disability and Communication Access Board, opposed the bill for eliminating the personal care attendant (PCA) fare waiver on buses and rail, arguing it would burden disabled riders. Donald Sakamoto also opposed, citing hardships for blind and low-income residents. Anthony Casey Connor, former Winward Homeless Alliance chair, opposed most fare increases, advocating for affordable transit to reduce traffic and support low-income workers.
- Bill 61 (Rural Property Tax): Ryan Tam, HCDA director of planning, expressed strong support for the bill and thanked council and administration for collaborative amendments.
Discussion Items
- Bill 54 (Fare Restructuring): Director Roger Morton (DTS) opposed key provisions of the hand-carried CD2, including a non-resident adult fare category (administratively burdensome and unenforceable), separate senior discounted fares (preferred parity among all deeply discounted groups), and expanding low-income eligibility from extremely low (30% AMI) to very low (50% AMI) – estimated revenue loss of $6–8 million. He supported allowing PCA waivers on fixed routes if flagged on Holo cards. Councilmembers debated feasibility of non-resident fares, equity of discounts, and cost of expanded low-income fares. The committee unanimously postponed the bill to a later date to allow further consultation.
- Bill 64 (Lapse Reporting): Director Andy Kawano (BFS) opposed the bill requiring a mayoral report on anticipated lapsed appropriations at budget submission, arguing it would produce inaccurate estimates and increase administrative burden. Council Chair Waters countered that current lapse data (total $1.2 billion in FY26 carryover) is insufficiently organized; she sought a transparent, departmental breakdown. The bill was reported out for second reading with Councilmember Tolba voting with reservations.
- Bill 65 (Budget Execution): Director Kawano opposed Bill 65, which would require quarterly consolidated reports on all budget transfers, calling it unnecessary work. Council Chair Waters highlighted over 100 transfers this year and argued the report would improve transparency. The bill was amended to a CD1 (removing Exhibit A) and reported out for second reading with Councilmember Tolba voting with reservations.
Key Outcomes
- Resolutions 25-284, 25-285, 25-287, and 25-262 were all reported out for adoption without objection.
- Bill 54 (Fare Structure) was postponed to a date to be determined by the committee chair.
- Bill 59 (Industrial Wastewater Surcharge) was amended to a CD1 and reported out for third reading.
- Bill 61 (Rural Property Tax) was amended to a CD1 and reported out for third reading.
- Bill 63 (Affordable Rental Dedication) was amended to a CD1 and postponed.
- Bill 64 (Lapse Reporting) was reported out for second reading and scheduling of a public hearing, with Councilmember Tolba's reservation.
- Bill 65 (Budget Execution) was amended to a CD1 and reported out for second reading, with Councilmember Tolba's reservation.
Meeting Transcript
Aloha and good morning, everyone. It is Tuesday, October 14, 2025, and the time is nine oh eight AM. Will the committee on budget please come to order? We'd like to welcome to the chamber today committee members who are present. We have committee welcome committee vice chair Nishimoto and also committee council members Kia Aina Talbot and Council Chair Waters. Under HRS section 92-3.7. Therefore, the meeting will continue notwithstanding loss of audiovisual communication with remote testifiers or loss of the public broadcast of the of the meeting. Members of the public will be allowed to provide oral testimony on all items on the agenda in two ways. When your name is called, please come up to the testifier podium. Persons who have not registered will be given an opportunity to testify following the registered testifiers. Video conference from a quiet location if possible. Written testimonies, including the testifiers' address, email address, and phone number will be available to the public as described on the posted agenda. As a courtesy, please turn off or silence all cell phones for the duration of this meeting. Agenda item number one for action, resolution 25-284. Approving the cost items effective from July 1st, 2025 to June 30, 2029 for the bargaining unit 12, included, excluded and excluded managerial employees of the city and county of Honolulu. With us, I believe this morning we have the from the Department of Human Resources, Director Nola Miyazaki. Good morning, Nola Miyasaki, Director, Department of Human Resources. Thank you, budget chair Okimoto. Um Council Chair Waters and members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity. Um on behalf of Mayor Reckland Giardi, we're we're pleased to ask the budget committee for your favorable consideration of the cost items for the state of Hawaii organization of police officer Chopo bargaining unit 12 for the period July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2029. And I believe in the RESO, the attachment shows all the cost items. Thank you, Director. Members, do we have any questions for the director? Chair Waters. Thank you. Thank you so much for your hard work and total support. But I know what you said that the dollar amounts are in the reso, but for people watching on Alelo, would you mind just laying out what it is that we're approving? Potentially approving. Thank you. The um the the basically um the collective bargain agreement went into arbitration, and this is the arbitration award that was um awarded by the arbitrator recently. Um it awards five percent for the um across the board raises for all of the officers, including their step movements, which are every three years, there's a several percentage depending on what what level they're at. So it's kind of a longevity that um is part of the traditional um pay system, and there will be a lump sum of eighteen hundred dollars paid to each member on July 1, 2026. Um the total salary costs for bargaining unit 12 for the four years will be 221, 164, and 973 dollars. And um, I know that Director Kowano is here. We he will be here, he'll be able to answer any budget-related questions if you had those. Just a follow-up. Do you think this will help with retention of our possibly retiring police officers and keeping people here in Honolulu rather than going to other states or other cities for work? So um, Chair Waters, the the retention piece of the collective bargaining agreement. Um any additional retention pay has to be separately negotiated as a supplemental. So, for example, when we uh negotiated the recruitment bonuses for the five-year 25,000 dollar bonuses for the starting police officers, those are all um well, the recruitment bonuses are separate, but we do for anything that's retention outside of the current contract. We do have to negotiate that separately. No, I understand that, but five percent per year each year is what I'm hoping is that um officers will look at that and think, okay, I should stay. Because ultimately, after four years, that's 20 percent. It's 20 percent plus the bonus plus the step movement. So the step movements, you know, if you look at the four-year contract, it's approximately four percent. So you're we're looking at a 24% increase to salary base salary over four years for every Chopo member, and plus the eighteen hundred dollar um you know, cash bonus on well, I shouldn't say cash, but lump sum bonus on July 1, 2026. So this is substantially the same across the board increases that we gave um in the last collective bargaining contract, except for the COVID year where there were no increases to any of the um employees in the city. Okay, and then lastly, we looks like we have resolved most of the other bargaining units with the exception of bargaining unit 15 and bargaining unit 11. Firefighters and ocean safety. Is that correct?
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