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Honolulu Sewer Rates Are Likely To Go Up — A Lot
CB: … The full council is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a bill that as currently written would raise sewage fees each year by 6%, 7.5%, 8.5%, 9%, 9% and then 9%, beginning on Jan. 1 and then increasing each July 1 to coincide with the fiscal year. To incentivize lower water usage, it would charge a higher rate as more water is used, meaning families that use more water would see their fees increase more than families who use less water.
Two other versions of the bill being deliberated that day would charge lower rates, and all would still be less than the 10-year, 115% rate increase originally proposed by Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s administration.
Meanwhile, some council members have thrown a curveball, questioning whether the planned upgrade at the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant, which would further purify the water before it’s discharged into the ocean, is even necessary.
“I still go back to whether or not we should even be doing the secondary containment, knowing that we’re already doing things that comply with what the EPA has asked us to do,” council member Andria Tupola said at a committee meeting in mid-May….
Tupola asked Babcock whether the city knew about any negative health impacts resulting from Sand Island’s lack of secondary treatment. Babcock said he was not aware of any.
She has suggested using other treatment methods and possibly extending the outfall pipe so treated sewage is discharged farther from shore….
BACKGROUND: Can the Trump Administration save Honolulu from wasting $2.5B on Sand Island Sewage Plant?
read … Honolulu Sewer Rates Are Likely To Go Up — A Lot - Honolulu Civil Beat
Maui Council Budget: Musk has left the building, and so goes our excuse for tax hikes and bloated spending
MN: … Council concerns about local federal cuts are set against recent developments in Washington, D.C., that could impact federal spending from the administration of President Donald Trump. On Wednesday, the New York-based US Court of International Trade stepped in and disallowed President Trump’s proclaimed “Liberation Day” tariffs, saying he exceeded his authority in doing so. Also, billionaire Tesla and SpaceX head Elon Musk has left the Trump administration, leaving his role head of the Department of Government Efficiency where he struggled to achieve his goal of cutting trillions of dollars in federal spending.
Maui Now sought clarification from the County Council and Bissen administration on the threat of federal budget cuts and their impact on the increased spending.
Both Lee and Budget Director Lesley Milner reported that Maui County has not received any official notice of impending budget cuts from the state (as a pass through for federal funding) or from the Trump administration, although impacts of actual cuts from the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency have been widely reported.
Providing more context to federal support for Maui, Lee added that “federal agencies and partners have been invaluable in supporting the county’s ongoing wildfire recovery and broader community-resilience efforts.”
For example, Maui County has been allocated $1.6 billion in Community Development Block Grant funding for relief from the August 2023 wildfire disaster.
Milner acknowledged that “there is some uncertainty at the federal level, which the (Bissen) Administration is monitoring closely. However, it’s important to note that most County operations are funded through local sources rather than federal grants.”
However, “the County has not been informed that any grants that have already been executed will be withdrawn,” she said. “We are in continuous communication with our funding partners to ensure we are able to respond as needed if changes are made at the federal level that will significantly impact County projects or priorities.”
Lee cited a “variety of factors” influencing the Council’s decisions, including “uncertainty about some federal funding.” However, she broadened the scope to include the rising cost of living for residents, a slowing global economy, and ongoing challenges from the wildfire recovery.
These macro-economic currents, largely out of local government control, are now presented alongside federal concerns and public sentiment for “greater investment in local working families,” according to Lee.
The Council’s stated aim is to “ensure families have the tools needed for resiliency while facing these challenges,” she said.
In explaining how these “tools” directly relate to the significant Council budget increases for programs like the $12 million ALICE Initiative or the $25 million county contribution to the Lipoa Apartments project, Lee said: “The tens of millions of dollars the Council has appropriated for affordable housing and the ALICE Initiative provide specific resiliency tools for residents.”
However, she offered no direct connection between those significant increases and any impending federal budget cuts.
Milner said: “I believe that the ALICE initiative is assisting programs that have already lost federal funding… I am not aware of a federal connection to the Lipoa Apartments project.” ….
MN: Maui County Council poised to pass $1.55B budget | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News
read … Maui Council’s FY26 budget: Final vote looms amid shifting justifications, lingering questions : Maui Now
Honolulu Police Can’t Spend Entire Budget Because It Can’t Fill Positions
CB: … The Honolulu Police Department’s difficulties in hiring officers causes it to send tens of millions of dollars budgeted for salaries back to the city’s general fund every year.
The police department left about $45 million of its $345 million budget unspent for the fiscal year that ended last June. That’s up from $18 million unspent in 2021, when the budget was $283 million. …
SA: HPD vacancy task force under Council scrutiny | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
read … Honolulu Police Can’t Spend Entire Budget Because It Can’t Fill Positions - Honolulu Civil Beat
Following the evolution of Miske’s living trust
ILind: … Miske created his revocable living trust in August 2008. It recently became public for the first time when it was filed in federal court along with a motion in opposition to the government’s pending lawsuit aimed at seizing all Miske’s personal and business assets.
When Miske established his living trust in 2008, he likely already knew he was the target of a federal criminal investigation launched just a few months earlier by a joint task force involving the FBI, IRS, and the Honolulu Police Department. Miske appears to have had sources in local law enforcement and likely the prosecutor’s office, and perhaps even in the FBI itself, according to trial testimony and evidence made public in the case….
read … Following the evolution of Miske’s living trust | i L i n d
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