The Board of Directors of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation approved Friday the agency’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2023.
The budget calls for about $645 million in spending, plus a new appropriation request of nearly $1.7 billion for construction of the line through the so-called City Center from Middle Street to Ala Moana Center.
However, most of those funds will be spent in future years.
The approval follows a reduction in the projected shortfall for the overall project. HART now estimates the final cost for the 20.2-mile rail system will be $11.4 billion, down from roughly $12.4 billion.
The revised figures are the result of an independent cost analysis by the firm Triunity Management and Engineering.
A Honolulu City Council committee last week agreed to allocate between one-third to one-half of revenues from a proposed 3% visitor bed tax to the rail project.
The Blangiardi Administration asked the council to earmark 1% of the transient accommodations tax to the Honolulu rail for two years, then increase that to 1.5% thereafter — that's 50% of the TAT funds.
City Managing Director Michael Formby told committee members the TAT revenues were critical to completing a functioning rail system.
The Budget Committee voted 5-to-1 to move the hotel bed tax measure to the full council for final approval in December.
