The impacts of federal funding cuts and the tight state budget have trickled down to the county level.
Kauaʻi County’s budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, stands at $364 million for the operating budget and $140 million for the capital improvement project budget.
The line items within both are currently in the works, and councilmembers are reorganizing and reprioritizing to ensure core services are still able to function.
The big topic of the last budget meeting was homelessness. The current allotted budget for houseless services is $500,000, which brought many concerned residents to the meeting to testify for more funding and support.
Council Chair Mel Rapozo said the council is in a unique position to use its power to reduce the growing houseless population, rather than funding other projects that are not as pressing.
“This is not a money issue, it’s a priority issue,” Rapozo said. “We have human beings that are living in the elements, and we have an opportunity to utilize our authority in the budget process to say we’re not going to allow that to happen. The question is, are we going to do it?”
Councilmembers KipuKai Kualiʻi and Fern Holland proposed an amendment to the budget that would add $1 million to the funding for homeless services and another $1 million for adult and adolescent mental health services.
The amendment would take the corresponding funding from the Waimea 400 housing plan, the Habitat Conservation Plan, and the Nāwiliwili and Hanapēpē town park.
“I find even further distressing the failure of our state to step in when we need them the most. To have to take funding from these core primary purposes that should be funded from state and federal level is unacceptable,” Holland said. “This is a people issue. This is a compassion issue, and this comes down to the fact that nothing's going to change if we don't change.”
Councilmembers will vote on the latest version of the budget on June 3.
