During budget discussions this week, the Maui County Council began to look at lapsed funds for various capital improvement projects.
Some discussed projects include Lanaʻi's fire station improvements, state-mandated cesspool conversions, and the development of the Wailuku municipal parking lot.
Budget committee members are looking at an inventory of projects with lapse dates of 2018 or older. That amounts to about $28 million in past funding, with more than $255 million encumbered throughout the years to different departments, some of which have not been used.
Budget Director Maria Zielinski said the money could go back to the county coffers.
"The bottom line is, if they do indeed say these are lapsed and just encumbered the funds, then that does ultimately transfer to/translate to monies that will become part of carryover savings," Zielinski told the budget committee last week.
"If you have a project that is not going anywhere and actually has lapsed, and the money is just sitting there, it's tied up," Zielinski said. "So it behooves the county to disencumber those funds and then we have that extra money, the extra carryover savings."
Lapsed money will likely not be included in the fiscal year 2024 budget, which begins July 1, but it may be included as carryover savings in fiscal year 2025.
