The four newest members of the Honolulu City Council won’t have much of a honeymoon after being sworn into office Monday afternoon at Honolulu Hale.
First and foremost on the Council’s agenda is a projected budget deficit of $103 million in fiscal year 2012, which begins July 1.
“Perhaps it’s a good time to again consider a ‘pay as you go’ system for City Services,” said Council Chairman Nestor Garcia during his inaugural address.
Garcia eluded to the possibility of “user fees” while welcoming Stanley Chang, Breene Harimoto, Tulsi Gabbard-Tamayo and Ernie Martin to the Council after the new members won district elections in November.
A fifth new member, Tom Berg, is expected to join the Council later this month when he’s sworn into office January 18.
The prospect of generating new revenue for the city without raising property taxes is something each member of the Council, including four veterans, will have to carefully weigh as they grapple with the projected budget deficit.
"I think the priority is definitely making sure we provide the basic services to our communities and quality services,” said Gabbard-Tamayo. “It's going to be challenging to make sure that we can cover all those bases.”
Garcia meanwhile believes it’s unlikely the Council would raise property taxes with so many new members coming off recent election victories.
“I don't think that these people are really going to be eager along with our mayor to talk about any hike in property taxes,” he said. “So in lieu of that we need to take a look perhaps at these kinds of user fees.”
Mayor Peter Carlisle said any measure that can generate needed revenue for the city will receive serious consideration, including public park user fees and even the possibility of installing metered parking at Ala Moana Beach Park.
“(For) example parking at the zoo or parking at Ala Moana Beach Park,” said Carlisle. “Those are things that we might consider putting parking meters into.”
Although Carlisle is not required to submit his budget to the Council until the first week of March, Garcia stressed the idea of user fees is coming from the mayor, not the Council.
“You have to understand these are proposals that are coming from the Administration,” he said. “I haven't seen any such proposal coming from the Council.”
Although there are no proposals for user fees from the Council itself, new Budget Chairman Ernie Martin says he is willing to entertain the idea of user fees for emergency services, for instance fire protection.
Some cash strapped mainland cities have begun charging residents a fire department response fee to subsidize costs.
"I think it's something worthwhile to consider,” said Martin. “I'd like to discuss that with the fire chief to get his ideas.
However Martin expressed concern that some Honolulu residents may be reluctant to call on emergency services if there’s a user fee attached.
“I don't want it to be in a situation where somebody (is) hesitant to call upon the fire department in time of need,” he said.
Although Mayor Carlisle doesn’t believe the deficit will be as large as projected with tourism on the rebound, he said the city must change the way services are delivered.
He suggested senior citizen subsidies for city bus passes and greens fees at municipal golf courses may need to be scaled back for those who can afford to pay full price.
"What I would like to see very, very distinctly is determining who actually needs help,” said the mayor.
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