Mayor Derek Kawakami focused on making Kauaʻi and its residents more resilient during his State of the County address Thursday.
Going over his operating budget request for next year, he laid out three underlying goals.
“Those are one, to prepare our county for adversity, two, to plan smarter, stronger communities so that we can, three, build resilient families that can thrive for generations,” he said.
Kawakami announced a nearly $345 million operating budget and a $104 million capital improvement project budget for the upcoming fiscal year — an increase of more than $33 million over last year.
“This is largely due to more than doubling our road resurfacing and bridge repair work. Salaries, benefits and collective bargaining expenses also accounted for 35% of this increase,” Kawakami said.
Decades of backlogged road repairs need to be addressed, he said. The county’s GDP revenue is expected to increase by 11%, allowing for road repairs and upgrades to the island's transportation systems.
He added that millions of dollars have been secured for improving roads, bridges and sidewalks.
“We are approaching a milestone of 50% of all county roads either having been repaved or are contracted for repaving, with another 41 lane miles coming up this year,” Kawakami said.
His proposed budget would also improve the benefits for county workers to make the jobs more appealing. He said more than three-quarters of the county’s general fund is dedicated to employee salaries and benefits.
Kawakami’s proposed budget fully funds the required contributions for the state-sponsored Employee Retirement System and other post-employment benefits. It also includes $3 million to cover basic health care premiums for county workers.
Kauaʻi County Council Chair Mel Rapozo applauded the idea.
“I think that's a brilliant idea. Recruiting and retaining our employees is getting tougher and tougher," he said. "I think whatever we can do to recruit and retain our employees is a good thing."
"Everything is collective bargaining, and we don't have the ability to pay people more than what is agreed upon. So, if we can do things like this, innovative ways …paying off medical premiums, it’s a huge help.”
Rapozo said Kawakami met with the councilmembers before his speech and most of the mayor's priorities fall in line with the council’s.
Rapozo did have some concerns about Kawakami saying his and the council’s real property tax reform effort “does not equate to tax relief.”
Kawakami said, “It does help to distribute the burden of taxes more fairly across our county and ensures that the lowest rates are reserved for local residents who live in their homes full-time.”
But Rapozo said the council wants tax relief for residents.
“The last couple of years our taxpayers have been hit pretty hard with extremely high assessments, which relates to extremely high tax bills. My hope is that this council will adjust tax rates to reduce the tax burden on taxpayers,” he said.
Rapozo said there’s an opportunity to do that following a nearly 33% increase in the transient accommodations tax revenue from rental units.
Kawakami’s address also included plans to mitigate and prepare Kauaʻi for wildfires, sea level rise and other impacts from climate change by allocating funding for personnel, equipment and planning and prevention efforts.
He said the August fires on Maui showed a need for that kind of planning.
Kawakami’s plans for the upcoming year also include improving infrastructure at wastewater treatment plants and the Kekaha Landfill, advancing low-income housing projects and fighting invasive species.
The council will begin reviewing Kawakami’s budget proposal later this month.
Read the full State of County address here.
