The Maui County Budget, Finance, and Economic Development (BFED) Committee (Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura) continued its Fiscal Year 2027 budget deliberations on April 23, 2026. The committee faced a current general fund imbalance of approximately $17 million. The day-long session featured extensive public testimony on wastewater management, cultural programs, and workforce housing, followed by significant committee actions on department budgets, grants, and policy matters.
Welcome to the budget finance economic development committee. Um, it is now nine oh six a.m. and uh we're on April 23rd, Thursday, getting down to the cr crunch and countdown for this uh BFED committee. I'd like to welcome everybody. My name is Yuki Lee Sukimura. I'm the chair of this committee, and when I um this meeting is being conducted in accordance with the sunshine law, and if there if you are not in the chambers, looks like everybody is here. Um if you do leave this and join our meeting again, please identify if there are any minors with you in your workspace and um or people in in your workspace, but minors do not need to be identified. Good morning, um, Vice Chair Batangan. Aloha, Chair members. Good morning. Good morning. Aloha, good morning, Chair. Good morning, Mr. Johnson. Morning, Chair, Council members, committee members. There's no testifiers at the Language District Office, and I'm here and ready to work. Thank you. Okay. Chair Lee, good morning. Bonjour. I'm learning how to speak French. Good morning. Member Palton. Aloha Kakayaka and Bonjour Kakho. Uh Loha Po Aha. Uh, day four of decisions week. No testifyers at the Mulkan district office. Good morning, Member Silency. Good morning, Member U Hutchins. Hello, our chair. Bonjour, everyone. Good morning. Assisting us uh with today's meeting at the is the BFET committee staff. Thank you very much. I'm not too sure what time you all slept last night, but after we um ended our meeting at about nine o'clock, they continued on working to get ready for it today. Um, we have also invited resource uh persons from the administration, including budget director and deputy corp counsel Wigglesworth. Thank you for being with us. Thank you, members for attending today's BFED committee meeting. And we have one item on the agenda. It is BFED one proposed fiscal year 27 budget for the county of Maui. Once we finish all departments, I would like to take out revisits, followed by countywide costs, general budget provisions, provisions, and additional legislation. Um staff. So um by staff's current um calculations, uh you know, and this is just just to be uh transparent. It's the these totals account for all cuts and all ads, so even those related to like the water fund that the committee did yesterday and bond fund, things like that. Um so right now the committee stands at um just about 30 million dollars in cuts and just over 40 million dollars in ads, so about um an 11 11 million dollar difference right there. Um, but uh again, just just so the committee's aware, it's the that accounts for all funds. So um, you know, there's uh still an imbalance uh in the general fund that the committee will will need to address once uh well depending on what the committee does today, and the committee may need to address that. Thank you, Chair. Um, thank you. And members, as you know, all your ads that you recommended.