Kaua'i County Council Finance & Economic Development Committee Budget Deliberation – May 13, 2025
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Kaua'i County Council Finance & Economic Development Committee Budget Deliberation – May 13, 2025
The Finance & Economic Development Committee met on May 13, 2025, to deliberate and make preliminary decisions on the Mayor's FY2025-2026 Annual Budget, including Bill No. 2949 (Operating Budget), Bill No. 2950 (Capital Improvements), and Resolution No. 2025-21 (Real Property Tax Rates). The session began at 9:00 a.m. in the Council Chambers, Lihu'e, and focused on public testimony, review of the supplemental budget, and council member proposals for amendments.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Cheryl Lum, Executive Director, YWCA of Kaua'i – Requested a budget increase for the family violence shelter and sexual assault treatment program, noting that funding has been flat for five years and the organization faces a $380,000 operating deficit. She asked for between $80,000 and $380,000 in additional support, emphasizing the critical 24/7 nature of the shelter and the decline in VOCA grant funding.
- Kalani Werner, State Director, United Public Workers – Expressed support for the wellness and productivity incentive program (proposed sick leave cash-out program) as a way to incentivize attendance. He clarified that the program is not intended to target sick leave abuse but to reward employees with good attendance. He noted that the administration and union are still developing the plan and determining thresholds.
Discussion Items
Acceptance of Supplemental Budget Communication
- The committee accepted the Mayor's supplemental budget communication submitted on May 8, 2025, as the starting point for deliberations. Motion passed unanimously (7 ayes).
Council Chair's Proposal (Amended)
- Council Chair presented a comprehensive proposal to reduce and reallocate approximately $1.2 million (0.4% of the operating budget). The original proposal included:
- Cuts: $500,000 from wellness & productivity incentives, $550,000 from rodeo arena (leaving $450,000), $275,000 from replace/improved comfort stations.
- Adds: $75,666 and $199,364 to North Vidina Stadium restroom (soccer field restrooms), $200,000 for invasive species mitigation (OED), $100,000 for little fire ant mitigation, $75,000 for desktop review software (real property tax office), $40,000 for low-income bus fare program (elderly affairs).
- Amendment by Councilmember Kaneshiro: Reduced the cut to wellness incentives from $500,000 to $400,000 and the invasive species add from $200,000 to $100,000. The amendment passed.
- Councilmembers expressed support, noting the need for accountability and that many items (e.g., rodeo arena, wellness program) lack detailed plans. The amended proposal passed 7-0.
Additional Proposals
- YWCA Funding – Council Chair added $75,000 for the sexual assault treatment program and $85,000 for the family violence shelter, restoring funding to 2020 levels. Councilmember Kuli recused himself due to part-time employment with YWCA. Passed 6-0.
- Golf Course Marshal – Added text and $1 to create a position for golf course marshal, as required by ordinance and to support alcohol sales at the course. Passed 7-0.
- Technical Edit (Administration Request) – Housekeeping item to remove and add $1 for internal budget adjustments. Passed 7-0.
- Councilmember Calder's Proposal – Proposed removing $200,000 from island-wide play court resurfacing (from $4 million total) and adding $100,000 to invasive species mitigation and $100,000 to the family violence shelter. Parks Director Pat Porter testified that the cut would delay construction of one court site, and that funds are needed for shovel-ready projects. After debate, the motion failed 1-6 (only Councilmember Cowden voted aye).
- Councilmember Kuli's Proposal – Split the existing constituent relations coordinator line item into two separate line items (one per coordinator) at no cost. Passed 7-0.
- Councilmember Bolasan's Proposal – Identical split for his constituent relations coordinator line item. Passed 7-0.
Real Property Tax Rates
- The committee accepted the Mayor's proposed rates as submitted in Resolution No. 2025-21, without changes. Councilmember Calder expressed concern about the impact on long-term tenants and small businesses but voted in favor. Passed 7-0.
Staff Authority to Balance Budget
- Motion granted council services staff the ability to make minor adjustments to balance the budget. Passed 7-0.
Key Outcomes
- Supplemental budget accepted as starting point for decision-making.
- Council Chair's amended proposal passed (7-0), reallocating funds as described: $400,000 cut from wellness incentives, $550,000 from rodeo arena, $275,000 from comfort stations; adds for North Vidina restroom ($75,666 + $199,364), invasive species ($100,000), little fire ants ($100,000), desktop review software ($75,000), and low-income bus fares ($40,000).
- YWCA funding approved ($75,000 sexual assault treatment, $85,000 family violence shelter) – 6-0 (Kuli recused).
- Golf course marshal position added – 7-0.
- Constituent relations coordinator line items split (two proposals) – 7-0 each.
- Real property tax rates approved as proposed – 7-0.
- Staff authority to balance budget granted – 7-0.
- Councilmember Calder's play court reallocation failed (1-6).
- Next steps: The Finance & Economic Development Committee will formally approve all decision-making items on May 21, 2025. The second and final reading of the budget is scheduled for May 28, 2025. The May 14, 2025 session was canceled.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, good morning. I'd like to call to order the Finance and Economic Development Committee and the fiscal year 2025-2026 preliminary budget decision making session. Let the record reflect that all members are present. Councilmember Quolee is on his way and will be a little late. He's stuck in traffic. Today is the council's opportunity to offer amendments to the mayor's budget proposal for the fiscal year 2025-2026. I'd like to remind the committee that any proposals to reduce or remove an item requires four votes. Any proposal to increase or add an item requires five votes. Please also keep in mind that any additions that you may be proposing should have a corresponding reduction or identification of funding or revenue source. Once a proposal is introduced, I respectfully ask that members be concise and considerate with their time during the discussion period. On the schedule today, we'll accept any public testimony and then hear from the administration with a brief overview of the supplemental budget communication. After that, we'll entertain any council member proposals. As usual, I want to respectfully ask that the council members make their final commentary on the budget during the second and final reading, which is scheduled for Wednesday, May 28, 2025, rather than at the end of the decision making today or in the committee meeting next week. This request again, as usual, is being made so that council services staff can immediately be in working to incorporate any changes made during today's budget session and prepare any prepare and post post notices, floor amendments, etc. relating to our ongoing budget process. So just state your name. Thank you. Good morning. So state your name, the light will turn yellow when you have 30 seconds left, and red when your six minutes is up if you need it. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Cheryl Lum. I am the executive director for YWCA. I humbly am requesting that as you're considering your budget and budget modifications that you consider YWCA as our nonprofit provides a very integral and important service to our community. Um for uh $30,000. And we have not experienced a budget increase. It's remained flat from the from the county uh for the past five years. And with the increase in cost of living and our operations and doing business, um, we are requesting a budget increase to support our operations. The family violence shelter is a 24-hour operation. Um we have uh victims that are brought to us at any time of the day and night, and we need to remain open to support our victims. The shelter and our sexual assault treatment program uh supports the beginning of the healing for our community. Um so it's a really important part of what we do for our community. And so I would really like to request that you look at your budget to see if there is room and wiggle room to support the um lack of increase for the past five years as well as supporting um the decrease in the voca funding that we will be receiving that we have um experience actually. And um at this time, our our budget, like being able to operate. Um we have actually a deficit. Um, and so we are at a deficit for our operations of $380,000. Um, so if there's any room where you can be able to support an increase anywhere between 80 to 380,000 dollars, that'd be fantastic. You have to look at those heart numbers, but if there's anywhere that you can pull from to support the operations, we need to make sure that we are continuing to service our community to make sure that we are the place where we can start to allow our community to heal when they're experiencing such trauma. So thank you very much. I have a clarifying clarifying question, Consumer Coding. Did I miss an email? Did you send us any notification of this request ahead of time? Um I did send an email. So sorry. A few weeks back. A few weeks back asking for an increase of eight to 80,000. And did you request that from the mayor's office as well? I did. Okay. Thank you.
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