The Maui County Council approved its $1.6 billion budget for the next fiscal year, but that decision came after council members made a last minute change to increase funding for security at county properties.
This addition was a result of a security threat late last month involving congressional candidate Kirill Basin, who allegedly entered One Main Plaza — a Wailuku county building — and threatened workers while waving a gun.
At a county council meeting following the incident, Vice-Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura suggested taking $50,000 from a local agriculture program and reallocating it toward increasing security measures across Maui county campuses.
“It took an hour and a half for the police to be called. Why was that? Because there's no plan,” Sugimura said. “I think what came up pretty clear was that we need to have a security plan, and get everybody to talk together and come up with a safer campus for all the employees.”
As it currently stands, the $50,000 would go to the county’s Department of Management to be used as its leadership sees fits. Chair Alice Lee noted that she is forming a task force to boost security measures across the county, which could aid the department in decision making.
Lee also said she’s worried the department is set on using the money to implement a screening machine at the Kalana O Maui Building, where county council meetings are held. Some council members, including Tamara Paltin, said adding a TSA-like screening machine at one county campus rather than using the money for county-wide security measures felt like a “false flag” choice.
“We have the residency area offices, we have the DMV building, we have the One Main Plaza, so to think that one machine at the building where we work is going to keep the county workers county-wide safe, is just not true,” Paltin said. “If the $50,000 is going to be for a plan to help protect county wide from external threats, then I could be supportive of it.”
Sugimura suggested the county add a condition to the $50,000 to ensure it does not go toward a screening machine.
The reallocation, along with the condition to not use the funds for a screening machine, received 7 ayes and 2 nos, with council members Keani Rawlins-Fernandez and Gabe Johnson voting against the move.
The county budget for the 2026-2027 fiscal year passed through the council and now awaits Mayor Richard Bissen's approval.
