Special Council Meeting to Address Mayor’s Vetoes

Gladys Baisa. Maui Now file photo.

By Wendy Osher

A special council meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 23, at 9 a.m. in the Council Chamber to address the eight line-item vetoes made by Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa on the fiscal year 2015 budget.

The mayor said the action will reduce county expenditures by an estimated $29.7 million. He said the county’s actual revenues would not have been sufficient to fund the projects and would have created a budget shortfall.

Arakawa said one of the items could force the county to shorten its hours of operation at the Central Maui Landfill, and fund a new Kahului Community Center for which the county has yet to secure land for.

The mayor sent a letter to the County Clerk on Monday detailing his objections, calling some of the funding items premature. Appropriations included in the veto list relate to the Kula Agricultural Park, water projects on Molokaʻi and in Upcountry Maui, and a multi-purpose center and community park in South Maui.

“The council will carefully consider the mayor’s concerns,” said Council Chair Gladys Baisa in a press release announcing the meeting.

The County Charter requires a two-thirds vote by the council to override the mayor’s line-item vetoes. The deadline to act is June 26 — that’s 10 days after the budget bill was returned, Baisa said.

A $603.6 million budget was passed by the council on June 6 after a series of committee meetings that were held from March 31 through May 5.