Council eyes budget cuts, possibly deep, for mayor’s $1.5 billion spending plan

Budget cuts are being considered by Maui County Council for Mayor Richard Bissen’s proposed $1.512 billion spending plan for the County’s fiscal 2026 budget, but it’s not immediately clear whether they’ll be with an axe or pruning shears.

Council Chair Alice Lee said “deep cuts” might be in order, at least in her opinion, because, among other things, she said there’s a track record of being unable to spend budgeted items as planned.

One recent example would be approximately $12 million unspent funds in the county’s Affordable Housing Fund.

County of Maui spokesperson in the Office of the Mayor, Laksmi Abraham responded to Lee’s comments saying, “Unspent Affordable Housing Fund appropriations are not carryover savings. If they lapse, the funds remain in the fund and continue to support future housing efforts.”

As the Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee wrapped up its work for the day on Monday afternoon, Lee pushed back against a suggestion of more department reviews by the committee. She said she hoped the committee members would take time to discuss, instead, some “fundamental things, like, seriously making some deep cuts into the budget because… I can’t imagine them being able to spend a billion dollars.”

“So, therefore, we’re overcharging our taxpayers,” Lee said. “That’s my opinion.”

Budget Committee Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura agreed saying, “We have to do some cuts to the total.”

Sugimura said the budget presented by the mayor to the Council is $1.5 billion for operations. “And then we have (capital improvement project) money and grants that we’re receiving. So, the total picture is really closer to $2 billion.

The disaster recovery funding is already in the fiscal 2025 budget, according to Lee and Sugimura.

“It’s like having us be in charge of spending half a billion dollars,” Lee said. “We wouldn’t be able to do this in our offices (or maybe you could), but, you know, generally speaking, we don’t have the staff, the resources, everything.”

“This is a lot of money,” Lee said of the overall budget. “And, if anything, we got to focus on how do we make legitimate, reasonable cuts, and then when we see what the cuts amount to, what do we do with that?”

Abraham pointed out that the Maui County Charter requires a balanced budget based on projected revenues.

“The Mayor’s proposed FY2026 budget reflects sound fiscal stewardship and ensures the County is prepared to address both immediate priorities and long-term community needs,” she said.

Lee reminded council members about checks and balances between the executive and legislative branches of government.

“We are the check on the administration,” Lee said. “And that doesn’t mean that we have to appease them at every turn. And, as a matter of fact, we need to be more responsible, given all the issues we’ve been dealt with in this last year — the 60 (budget) amendments, unprecedented, and most of that money on the amendments came from carryover savings.”

“What creates carry-over spending,” she asked rhetorically. “A lack of spending. So are we going to go through the same thing again? I hope not… You know, we have to stand our ground at some point and be responsible, and hold their feet to the fire… Let’s not fashion this budget to make it easier for them. That’s not the point. It’s to make it right.”

Abraham responded to Lee’s comments saying:

“The volume of budget amendments this fiscal year is consistent with 2023 and significantly lower than 2024, when over 100 amendments were submitted — many related to wildfire recovery.”

“Fewer than a third involved carryover savings. Some amendments originated from Councilmember requests, which the administration reviewed and, when appropriate, advanced for consideration.

Sugimura said she intended to recall before the committee, for further review, the Office of the Mayor and Department of Personnel Services, especially the latter department.

After hearing from most county departments, which have “situations, concerns, you know, with DPS,” she said.

“I’m going to ask staff to go through the discussions that we’ve had with them, all the departments, and see the challenges that the departments are having with DPS, and see how we can try to find some solutions or direction through this budget process.”

Sugimura recalled that the Department of Management has a contract to do a management study on the Personnel Department. “It sounds like it’s pretty deep the problems that the departments are having,” she said.

Lee said she didn’t necessarily see the need to talk to the Mayor’s Office or Personnel Department, again. Regarding personnel, she said, “we all know we got major problems with the system that I don’t know that we can fix in one day.”

According to the administration’s budget submission, the County’s executive branch is seeking 90.9 expansion positions (paid with all sources of funding) and 86.3 expansion positions (paid with county funds only) in fiscal 2026, both are 2.9% higher than the current fiscal year. The job increases come at a time when departments are reporting dozens of vacant positions.

The number of approved positions in Maui County has grown from 3,002.9 in fiscal 2023 to 3,175 positions in fiscal 2025 with all funding sources, and from 2,861.4 in fiscal 2023 to 3,021.6 in the current fiscal year from county funding only, according to a table in the administration’s budget proposal.

Aside from committee hearings, the Council’s Budget Committee will review Bill 49.

That bill calls for a 30% pay raise for most positions in the Office of Council Services. It would affect about 31 positions and cost about $835,000 for a year, according to an emailed response from the office.

When asked about the justification for the salary increases, the office said: “Most council staff typically receive an annual increase.”

The bill was introduced by Chair Lee.

“Chair Lee firmly believes that County staff deserve to receive competitive salaries that reflect their hard work and help them maintain a good standard of living,” the office email said. “The council can do this for OCS staff but not for any others. OCS staff do not have the benefits and rights provided by the civil service system; they can be terminated and do not have union protection; and they must be reappointed every two years, with each new council term.”