Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell says the city will take the safest and most prudent route to pay for rail.
There were four options to meet the Federal Transit Administration’s deadline, which included pulling money from the city’s rainy day fund.
But on Monday, the mayor announced the city will use short-term borrowing to get $44 million into the transit fund.
By next February, the city will pay that back by taking out long-term bond money.
“The cost for short-term commercial paper is projected to be somewhere around $4,000 and $5,000 for two months,” Caldwell said. “At this point, we’re so close to the end of this deadline, we don’t want to miss it, so we’re taking the safest route, fiscal route, most prudent route to get the money over to HART.”
The deadline to show money to the FTA is Nov. 20.
