Zoning & Planning - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

Aloha and good morning, everyone. It is Tuesday, May 19, 2026, and the time is 10.04 a.m. Will the Committee on Budget please come to order? We'd like to welcome to the committee members who are present in the chamber today, Council Chair Waters, Committee Vice Chair Nishimoto, Council Member Cordero, Kia Aina, and Talba. Although remote oral testimony is being permitted, this is a regular in-person meeting and not a remote meeting by Interactive Conference Technology under HRS section 92-3.7. Therefore, the meeting will continue not withstanding loss of audiovisual communication with remote testifiers or loss of the public broadcast of the meeting. Members of the public will be allowed to provide oral testimony on all items on the agenda in two ways. in person in the council chamber, and remotely via video conference or phone. Remote and in-person oral testimony will be allowed when each agenda item is taken up. Before testifying, each person shall state their name. Each speaker may not have anyone else read their statement and is limited to a one-minute presentation on each item. As both English and Hawaiian are official languages of the state of Hawaii, pursuant to Article 15, Section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution and Section 1-13 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, members of the public may testify in either language. For oral testimonies offered in Olelo, Hawaii, additional time as may be necessary will be allowed for the testifier to provide an English translation of their testimony. All persons who have registered to testify in person will be called upon first. When your name is called, please come up to the testifier podium. Persons who have not registered will be given an opportunity to testify following the registered testifiers. After in-person testimony has concluded, I will proceed to remote testimony via video conference or phone. When I call your name, please monitor Please monitor your screen and follow the prompt to unmute. For those who are joining us by telephone only, please press star nine if you wish to testify, and I will identify you by the last three digits of your phone number. When your number is called, please listen for the prompt to unmute and press star six. Some friendly reminders and tips. Video conference from a quiet location if possible. If you're also watching the proceedings on Olelo, please mute your television at the time you are called to testify. When the timer on screen reaches zero, please conclude your remarks promptly. Written testimonies including the testifier's address, email address and phone number will be available to the public as described on the posted agenda. As a courtesy, please turn off or silence all cell phones for the duration of this meeting. Agenda item number one for action. Resolution 26-98 confirms the appointment of Dr. Peter Yang to serve on the board of review three for real property tax appeals of the city and county of Honolulu for a term to expire on June 30, 2031. Members, we have distributed a hand-carried proposed CD1 OCS 2026-0334-5-18-2026 at 11.07 a.m. submitted by myself. The CD1 makes the following amendments. A, amends the title of the resolution to read, confirming the appointment of Peter Young to serve on the Board of Review 3 for real property tax appeals of the City and County of Honolulu. B, throughout the resolution, corrects references to the appointee's name in accordance with the Mayor's Message 70-2026. C, makes miscellaneous technical and non-substantive amendments. Before we call up the administration, And before, actually, I'll take testimony first and then I'll come to you, Mr. Young, if that's okay. Members, we will proceed first with in-person oral testimony in the council chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers for this item?

Chair, there are none.

Thank you. Proceeding now with remote testimony, clerks, do we have any remote testifiers for this item?

Chair, there are none.

Thank you. Now I would like to welcome with us, joining us today is Mr. Peter Young. Aloha, good morning, Mr. Young.

Aloha.

If you could just state your name for the record, and if you want to share anything with the members, you're free to do so at this time.

Thank you. My name is Peter Young, and I was appointed to this position a few years back, and I did it with a little bit of trepidation. I wasn't sure what I was getting into, but since that time, I've got to tell each one of the council members and the people in this chamber that it was probably one of the best Decisions I've ever made and I hope that the council's made in its past I'd like a reappointment. It's fun It's festive and I get to see the range of citizens of our great city and county from the kind of down-and-out veteran who bought his house for $59,000 35 years ago and now is assessed at 1.4 million and has to come before us to appeal all the way through a mainland investor calling in from Sausalito, California. Anyway, I'm very excited about this and I'd love to have a reappointment. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Young. Members, any questions for Mr. Young? Council Member Cordero.

Thank you, Chair Okamoto. Mr. Young, thank you so much for your interest and making your appointment sound lively as you have done so. We haven't heard an appointee make it sound as festive as he mentioned, so thank you. I do have a question as to the types of appeals that you see come before the real property tax appeals often. Is there a pattern? What are you seeing?

I'm not sure that there's a pattern, save two issues. One, we get a number of people who are late with their submissions. And that's just, I think, a problem of not necessarily their neglect as we hear their testimony, but as much as education. And we as a panel, in my case, panel three, we try to educate appellants that come before us to the errors of their ways and help them along the way. I must add, though, that the staff is beyond reproach. They are absolutely brilliant and all of them should be given a raise and a promotion. Can I say that? because they step up and assist these people. The other group, unfortunately, because the area that my board covers, North Shore predominantly, we have a lot of outside investors. And they come in and essentially they say, this isn't fair. Okay, what's your proof, et cetera, and So we have to, it's a lot of consternation to deal with that kind of issue and so forth. The people in the middle are going to be the natural folks that say, gosh, it went up another 6% and I'd like to see if I can get some resolution. And we understand that and we listen intently. So I would say that in par with what we have on our plates on a regular basis, There are no outliers, but we have some interesting cases on both ends.

Thank you very much, Mr. Young. I do want to ask about the education aspect. Is there something that's amiss that you see people are, I guess, facing when it comes to education? Is it that they didn't get the mail in time? We're just trying to see what's up because I think as a council, we've been talking about education towards real property tax education for a while now. So it would help us to know what type of education may be amiss.

Yeah, I would I would say that there's probably three things number one on the website Excuse me on the website. There's a wonderful video that explains all of the steps in the formula that the the city and county uses For somebody who goes through that They should know how their property taxes are calculated that said Our unofficial polling is that only about 50% of the people that come before us have watched the video. So maybe we require them before they can appeal. I don't know how we could, but watch this, please. And it'll answer a whole bunch of questions. Number two. I would suggest that we use social media more, that we use, for instance, the state elections commission right now is putting out a voter kind of video ad, a public PSA. Maybe take their lead and put out a PSA or three when these things come due, in addition to the video. And then number three, Work on some one-on-one and allow for conversations and some wiggle room. We have to make decisions when somebody submits their paperwork one day late, and yet the law tells us that we cannot deviate from that, yet they have a very compelling case. Well, we can't do anything about it. They can take it to tax court. And that's silly. So if there was some way that we could have, that the boards are given some wiggle room for just being a little bit late. And we're really talking Capunas, most cases. They just didn't watch their calendar. Does that make sense?

Absolutely. Thank you so much, Mr. Young. And I, of course, that brings up so many things, but I just want to thank you for your experience and being willing to serve again. And thank you, Chair Okimoto, for allowing me the opportunity to ask questions. Thank you, Council Member Cordero. Chair Waters.

Thank you. Great discussion, Mr. Young. Thank you so much. You know, I've tried on three separate occasions introduce legislation that would try to solve that problem, like where kupuna all of a sudden find themselves as Residential A because their spouse died and only one of the partners were on the homeowner's exemption. So one of the things I introduced was giving the director some leeway up to $10,000. They testified against it. So, I almost gave up, but I'm not going to because of you. I'm going to reintroduce it, and before I introduce it, I'll give it to you. Let's work together on this, because I agree with you 110%. There should be a little bit of wiggle room for the kupuna who just happened to miss the deadline.

Yeah, and that's all I'm asking, and that's all our appellants are asking also. Yeah. Can you bend it a little bit? No, we can't right now. So, yeah, that would be wonderful.

Yeah, because what we're talking about is your real property tax rate tripled. So your real property bill is now three times more than it was. So if it was sometimes even higher. Especially if you're already paying 9,000 a year, all of a sudden you got to pay 30,000 a year. That's huge for a coupon on one income. Anyway, thank you for that. Can you just follow up on what you're saying about outside investors coming up and complaining?

Oh, maybe I wore a little too much politics on my sleeve. Sorry about that.

No, no, that's okay. I want to hear about this because we got a bill called raising taxes for empty homes for outside investors who come in tripling their tax.

Yeah. This is, I'm speaking personally, not even for my members of the board and et cetera. But I find it interesting when we have the appellant that comes before us, rightly so, submits the paperwork, and they're literally calling it in, zooming it in, which is appropriate. From the mainland? Yes, Sausalito, California, or wherever. Could be Bakersfield, for all that matter. And they go through the process of explaining all of the Hawaii state regulations and et cetera, et cetera. And we're sitting there going, where are you going with this? And by the way, what's the rent you're charging on this? Now we don't adjudicate rent. We don't adjudicate empty homes. We adjudicate the actual assessment and is it fair and is the appeal appropriate? No, then we deny it. If it is, then we send it forward. But there are a lot of folks that are coming, that are dialing in, if you will, from outside of our great state that actually don't know a lot about what's happening here. So are they paying the residential A rate and that's what they're complaining about?

Yes, in most cases it's residential. They want the residential rate.

Well, no, they're not actually asking for the res rate, and they know the res A is what they have, but they're saying the increase is just way too much. And in one case, a gentleman said, I don't know if I can charge that much rent. Oh, okay, well, I really am sorry about that. So he was worried about his income flow, which I completely understand. but we have to think about our greater citizenry here. And as we all know, every sale in that particular area affects the overall formula of all the other pieces of real estate. So if somebody comes in with cash and says, I'll pay whatever it takes.

Yeah, no, thank you for sharing that. Last question, Council Member Cordero talked about this, the education aspect. One of the ideas that I had was putting a note on your, real property tax notice, right? You get that notice saying, this is what we assessed your property at. In some instances, they make it red. where you're gonna be now a Residential A, but do you think that'd be a good idea that we put a note on the notice saying, your property is now over a million dollars, or now it's 1.2 million, and you're now a Residential A. Residential A means, and or, go to our website at this to look it up.

Something like that. That would be brilliant. Logistically, I'm not sure about it, obviously, but anything, a Post-It note, inside the envelope would be wonderful, I think. I can tell you that, you know, it's little type. And I had my father just look at my tax bill a couple of years ago, and he pulled out his reading glasses and still couldn't read the fine print at the very bottom. And so I'm like, oh, so little things like that might help also.

Yeah. Awesome. Thank you, Mr. Young. Thank you for your service. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Chair Waters. Council Member Kia-Aina.

Hi, thank you. Mr. Young, I have constituents who, and I don't know if you guys had had cases before you on appeal, but who have, they are taxed at, a certain acreage of land when the land has been lost. And lost land is not just on the coastal lines. There are houses in Enchanted Lakes who are impacted. and supposedly they have failed in their appeals. They are still taxed on the original survey. Is there a need for us to make legislative changes or do these property owners simply have to update their survey and land records to reflect the downsizing of their property to be able to be taxed at the appropriate rate?

So there's a couple things that come into play. First of all, land is part of the formula. And let's just assume for discussion purposes, 10,000 square feet. That's if we discover, we being the assessors, et cetera, discover that, for instance, there's a radical downslope on the backside of the land, that's automatically discounted in the formula. And that is explained on the website and staff will walk people through that. If there is some kind of egregious event, like the Kona Lo issue, for instance, in North Shore and many other places, that unfortunately cannot be appealed for last year's tax bill. assessment but we do tell them and we have walked people through over the last four or five weeks through the process of not appealing it but going to the assessor and the property tax folks and getting their land reassessed because of the natural disaster that will result in a future got it Discount, okay.

I just want to make clear So the land owner does not have to update get a their own land survey The tax assessor is able to go to the property if they are saying saying enchanted lake It's not related to the Kona storms that they're being taxed at a higher rate be about the land Square footage is is not aligned.

Yeah, let me clarify so that we have words on the same length and If in that case, the plot survey that exists inside the city planning office of plot one is 10,000 square feet, that's already been decided by some survey. It's also been decided that the 1,500 square feet is on a radical downslope and not usable. That's also in the plot description. Our team, or I should say that the city's team will go out and look and when they assess the land as well as the dwelling, they know that that 1500 square feet is to be discounted. Now, if a Kona Low or something equivalent happens, usually that's for the next tax year, one, and two, that would be the landowner, the owner of the property's responsibility to get an assessment of the land.

Got it. I'm not talking about any Kona Lo ramifications. I'm talking strictly about landowners in Chantet Lake who feel that they're being discriminated against and they actually have lost. with their tax appeal to the, so real property tax division. So anyway, you gave me enough information. Thank you so much. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Kea. And I would like to welcome to the chamber Council Member Dos Santos-Tam. Members, any further questions for Mr. Young? Seeing no further questions, members, we are in discussion. I just want to thank you again. You might be the only appointee who has used the words fun and festive in their nomination speech, but we're excited to have you. Thank you for your continued service, and thank you for the good work. I know, as Council Member Cordero and Chair Waters have asked you, there's been questions about what we can do to help at least, especially our kupuna. So having your insight is really helpful. And I look forward to the discussion that you and Chair Walters will have to help us on our legislative side to make it more easy for those members of our communities. Thank you. Okay, seeing no further discussion. Thank you again, Mr. Young. The Chair recommends that Resolution 26-98 be amended to a hand-carried CD1 identified as OCS 2026-0334-5-18-2026 at 11.07 a.m. Any discussion, any objections, any reservations? Hearing none, the resolution is amended to a CD1 The chair then recommends that resolution 26-98 CD1 be reported out for adoption. Any further discussion, objections, reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Members, moving on to agenda item number two, resolution 26-106 authorizes a transfer not to exceed $1,500,000 in solid waste special fund monies from the refuse collection and disposable activity salaries character of expenditure to the refuse collection and disposal activity current expenses character of expenditure for the fiscal year 2026 to cover a portion of the disaster debris monitoring and disaster debris clearing and hauling services cost. Members, we have distributed a hand-carried proposed CD1 OCS 2026-0309-5-18-2026 at 11.27 a.m. submitted by myself. The CD1 makes the following amendments. A, in the six whereas clause clarifies that the transfer of $1,500,000 in solid waste special fund monies from the refuse collection and disposal activity will be from the salaries S, character of expenditure, COE, to the Department of Environmental Services refuse collection and disposal activity current expenses, CE, COE for the fiscal year 2026. B, in the be it resolved clause, amends the table to clarify the transfer activities are within the Department of Environmental Services. And C, makes miscellaneous technical and non-substantive amendments. Before we call up the administration, we'll proceed first with in-person oral testimony in the council chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. Proceeding on with remote testimony, clerks, do we have any remote testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. Joining us today from the Department of Environmental Services, we have our Deputy Director, I don't see Director Babcock. Thank you so much for being here with us.

Thank you, budget chair Okamoto, council members. Yeah, we support this. This will help pay for our disaster debris efforts, a portion of that for the Kona low storms that have occurred.

Thank you, Deputy. Can you just for the record state your name so I can have it on file? I'm sorry about that.

Dan Brick, Deputy Director, Department of Environmental Services. And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Members, any questions for our Deputy Director? Thank you so much. Seeing no questions, members, we are in discussion. Seeing no further discussion, the Chair recommends that Resolution 26-106 be amended to a hand-carried CD1 identified as OCS 2026-0309-5-18-2026 at 11.27 a.m. Any further discussion? Any objections? Any reservations? Hearing none, the resolution is amended to a CD1. The chair then recommends that resolution 26-106 CD1 be reported out for adoption. Any discussion? Any objections? Any reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Thank you, Deputy Director Briggs. Members, we are moving on to agenda item number three, resolution 26-107, a transfer totaling $1,487,000, not to exceed $1,257,000 in general fund monies and $230,000 in highway fund monies from the provision for energy costs activity current expenses character of expenditure to the Department of Facility Maintenance public expenditure I'm sorry, Facility Maintenance Public Building and Electrical Maintenance Division Activity, Current Expenses Character of Expenditure, and the DFM Division of Automotive Equipment Service Activity, Current Expenses Character of Expenditure for the fiscal year 2026 to cover insufficient funding for increases in electricity, gas, and fuel costs. Members, we have posted to the agenda a proposed CD1 OCS 2026-0299-5-13-2026 at 2.22 p.m. submitted by myself. For your information, the amendments are listed on the agenda. Before we call up the administration, we will proceed with in-person oral In-person oral testimony in the council chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. Proceeding now with remote testimony. Clerks, do we have any remote testifiers for this item?

Chair, there are none. Thank you.

Who would like to now welcome with us today, we have Deputy Director from the Department of Facility Maintenance, Aloha Deputy Director Warren Mamizuka.

Aloha, budget chair, council members, Warren Mamizuka, deputy director for the Department of Facility Maintenance, and on behalf of DFM, we support this reso.

Thank you, members. Any questions for our deputy director? Seeing none, thank you so much, deputy director. We're now in discussion, members. Seeing no further discussion, the Chair recommends that Resolution 26-107 be amended to the proposed CD1 identified as OCS 2026-0299, forward slash five, forward slash 13, forward slash 2026 at 2.22 p.m. Any discussion, any objections, any reservations? Hearing none, the resolution is amended to a CD1. The chair then recommends that resolution 26-107 CD1 be reported out for adoption. Any discussion, any objections or reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Moving on to agenda item number four, resolution 26-109 authorizes a transfer of up to $4,000 in general fund monies within the Honolulu Police Department patrol activity, current expenses character, of expenditure to the equipment character of expenditure for the fiscal year 2026 due to higher than anticipated costs for the Honolulu Police Department to purchase vehicles for use by the community policing teams. Members, we have distributed a hand-carried proposed CD1 OCS 2026-0310-5-18-2026 at 9.07 a.m. submitted by myself. The CD1 makes the following amendments. A, in the fourth whereas clause, clarifies the council previously approved transfer of $400,000 in the general fund monies through resolution 25-208. B, in the B it resolved clause amends the table to clarify that the funds being transferred are for activities within the police department. And C, makes miscellaneous, technical, and non-substantive amendments. Before we call up the administration, we will proceed first with oral in-person testimony in the council chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. Proceeding on with remote testimony, clerks, do we have any remote testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you, Madam Clerk. Seeing no testimony, is it Hironaka?

Is it Hironaka here?

I have on my agenda Major Ryan Hironaka. Oh, no, we actually have Acting Chief Roddy Vannick with us today. Oh, and Hironaka from the Honolulu Police Department.

I originally had a conflict in my schedule, but that has since cleared, so I wanted to be able to come and address you. We are requesting a transfer of funds from our current expense to the equipment in order to purchase this vehicle. As you had pointed out, we had originally requested for a transfer which was already approved, but we had an unanticipated shortfall, which so now we're requesting the additional $4,000 to cover that shortfall. The other monies that we had requested has already been used to purchase vehicles for all the other community policing teams. So this other vehicle that we're looking to purchase is for our District 8, Kapolei Waianae area. And once the 4,000, if and when it is approved, we are currently in the procurement process. And if approved, the vendor is aware that we're going through request process will be immediately applied towards the procurement process and we'll be able to encumber those funds so that we can use it, the monies for this fiscal year. And I'm available for any questions if you have.

Thank you, Chief Zanuck. Members, any questions for our Department Chief? Council Member Dos Santos-Tam.

Thank you, Chair. What type of fuel is this vehicle going to take? And the reason why I ask this is in the FY27 budget document, it describes that starting in July of 2026, HPD will be switching from gas with ethanol to non-ethanol gas. And it further describes that this is going to increase HPD's fuel costs overall by about 8%. So is this vehicle going to be taking the cheaper fuel or the more expensive fuel?

Good afternoon. I'm Ryan Hironaka, Major of the Finance Division. The vehicle will be a gas-powered engine. The reason for the fuel change was it was found that when we use gas that's an ethanol mix with regular gasoline, then if water seeps into the storage tanks, it contaminates the fuel. If we go to a pure gas, then what happens is that the water will just keep a separation. The contamination of the gas was causing issues with the subsidized vehicles and the fleet vehicles in the department. That's the reason we're going to the more expensive gas.

Okay. And if that is indeed the case, HPD requested $2,658,000 for fuel costs in the FY27 budget, and last year's budget was $2,629,000. So the difference is fairly minimal, but HPD is anticipating an increased fuel cost of 8%. So why didn't the fuel line item increase by 8%? Sorry, could you repeat the question? So in the budget document, it describes that switching from ethanol fuel to non-ethanol fuel will be about an 8% increase in cost. The amount requested by HPD, this is in the FY27 budget, is not 8% more than what was requested in FY26. So if you're anticipating an 8% increase in cost because of the difference of non-ethanol versus ethanol fuel, why are we asking for roughly the same amount as last year's fuel line? Also, this is in the context of gas prices going up by $1.20 over the past quarter.

because that issue was discovered in the course of this fiscal year, and that was after a budget had already been submitted for fiscal year 27.

So in that case, are we anticipating a transfer out of the provisional for increased energy costs to cover this difference, or are you going to make up this difference in savings?

Well, my understanding is BFS analyzes our gas usage, so that money is determined by BFS. It's not for us to determine how much we're going to pay for gas.

So it's up to BFS to determine where that additional cost will be covered from?

The dollar amount is set by them, yes. But in terms of our fuel costs, what they give us, our usage is gonna go up because we're going to the higher grade gas. But that's something that they would have to analyze into our increased fuel costs. And that would be our justification of why our fuel costs went up.

Okay, thank you. This raises some interesting questions that I will be bringing up at the end of this committee hearing.

Thank you, Council Member DeSantos-Tam. Members, any further questions for the department? Okay, seeing no further questions, members, we are in discussion. Seeing no further discussion, thank you. Thank you, Chief VanEck and Major Hironaka. The Chair recommends that Resolution 26-109 be amended to a hand-carried CD1 identified as OCS 2026-0310-5-18-2026 at 9.07 a.m. Any discussion, any objections or reservations Hearing none, so ordered. The chair then recommends that resolution 26-109 CD1 be reported out for adoption. Any discussion, any objections, any reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Moving on to agenda item number five, resolution 26-114 authorizes a transfer not to exceed $1 million in transportation fund monies from the provision for energy cost activity, current expenses character of character of expenditure to the Department of Transportation Services. Transportation mobility activity current expenses character of expenditure for the fiscal year 2026 to cover fuel and electricity shortages. Before we call out the administration, we will proceed first with in-person oral testimony in the council chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. Proceeding on with remote testimony. Clerks, do we have any remote testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. I would like to welcome with us in the chamber today from the Department of Transportation Services, Director Roger Morton.

Hello, Chair Okamoto, Vice Chair, members. My name is Roger Morton, and I'm Director of the Department of Transportation Services. Our requests, like other departments, are to reflect the increase in fuel prices that we've seen since 3-2. Our prices have gone up by about $1.40 per gallon. We use about 5 million gallons per year, so it has created a budget shortage, and we're respectfully requesting transfer from the provision for energy

Thank you, Director Morton. Members, any questions for the Director? Council Member Dos Santos-Tam.

Thank you, Chair. With regard to the upcoming FY27 budget, what was your total fuel cost request in the FY27 budget? I don't have that information in front of me, but we'll get it to your office. Okay, no problem. Did that include the anticipated, or does that include any anticipated costs related to current geopolitical situations?

It... The budget would have been prepared prior to the current situation. We are all hopeful that the current situation will eventually resolve itself, but we're worried that downward pricing on fuel is sticky, upward pricing is immediate.

Yes, and that's my concern as well. So going into FY27, These costs continue for a quarter, two quarters, the whole year. How does DTS anticipate covering those increased fuel costs? Or are we going to do things like cut service?

We're not anticipating making any adjustments in service as a result of the higher prices.

Good to hear. But do we have a plan for how we would cover that additional fuel cost? Or are we going to keep coming here and asking for transfers? And if that's the case... Do we anticipate that happening quickly, like in the first quarter of FY27?

I would not think that we would do it in the first quarter. If we had to do it, it would probably be in the fourth quarter.

Okay. And this is just... And so 5 million gallons a year, you roughly 1.25 million gallons a quarter. So every quarter, the increased cost based on the whole situation in Iran is back of the napkin math, about $2 million. That is correct. Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Council Member DeSantis-Tam. Members, any further questions for the director? Seeing none, members, we are in discussion. Thank you, Director Martin. Seeing no further discussion, the chair recommends that resolution 26-1104 be reported out for adoption. Any discussion, any objections or reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Members, moving on to agenda item number six, resolution 26-119, authorizing a transfer of up to $5,500,000 in general fund monies between the activities of the police commission, special field operations and administrative services activities, salaries, character of expenditure to the office of the chief of police, patrol investigations and support services activities. salaries, character of expenditure for fiscal year 2026 to cover projected salary deficits due to overtime expenditures as a result of staffing vacant positions and or unforeseen weather events. Members, we have distributed a hand-carried proposed CD1 OCS 2026-0329-5-18-2026 at 10.31 a.m. submitted by myself. The CD1 makes the following amendments. A, in the third whereas clause, conforms the activities listed in the clause to the activities set forth in the be it resolved clause. B, in the be it resolved clause, amends the table to clarify that the funds being transferred are for activities within the police department. and C, makes miscellaneous technical and non-substantive amendments. Before we call up the administration, we will proceed first with in-person oral testimony in the council chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. Proceeding on with remote testimony, clerks, do we have any remote testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. I'd like to welcome with us again today, Major Ryan Hironaka from the Police Department, as well as Chief Radivanek.

Again, thank you, Chair Okamoto, Vice Chair Nishimoto, and committee members. So I'll just give a brief presentation, then I'll be available for questions. So we're requesting the transfer of salary funds between activities for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 26 to address projected salary deficits necessary to sustain essential departmental operations. And these projected deficits are primarily attributable to several different things. Contractual salary obligations, overtime expenditures required to maintain minimal staffing levels, unforeseen operational demands arising from emergency events, special operations, public safety initiatives. Also, there were several anticipated obligations that came up as a result during the fiscal year 2026. Some of those included some of the CBA affecting multiple bargaining units. and those were retroactive to July 1st, 2025. So that affected our salary expenditures. Also in September 2025, our communications division implemented monthly recruitment and retention incentive pay for our police communication officers to address ongoing staffing challenges. That was approximately a $1.7 million unanticipated cost that we bore. The Office of the Chief established our HPD Public Affairs Office to improve communication. We funded a communications director and two information specialists, which was also unfunded. And then we also incurred substantial overtime expenditures associated with unbudgeted operational demands, including emergency responses related to the Kona Low Storms, public safety operations for large-scale events such as the Fiji Tribute Concert, enforcement initiatives other unforeseen operational requirements what I like to point out is this request does not further increase our budget but rather it reallocates our existing allotments between activities which addresses operational requirements and ensures the department can continue to function effectively within our already authorized budget so by Approving this request, what this does is it allows us to maintain uninterrupted public safety services, it supports our recruitment and retention efforts, and it meets negotiated compensation obligations ensuring continued operational stability through the close of this fiscal year. So I humbly ask that you consider this resolution and we're asking for your support. I'm available for any questions.

Thank you, Chief VanEck. Members, any questions for the Chief? Thank you. Seeing no further questions, members, we are in discussion. Seeing no further questions or discussion, thank you, Chief VanEck. The Chair recommends that Resolution 26-119 be amended to a hand-carried CD1 identified as OCS 2026-0329-5-18-2026 at 10.31 a.m. Any discussion, any objections or reservations? Hearing none, the resolution is amended to a CD1. The chair then recommends that resolution 26-119 be reported out for adoption. Any discussion, any objections, any reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Moving on to agenda item number seven, resolution 26-121, authorizing a transfer not to exceed $585,000 in general fund monies from the Honolulu Fire Department, fire operations and mechanic shop activities, salaries, character of expenditure to the radio shop, fire operations and mechanic shop activities, current expenses, current expenses character of expenditure for fiscal year 2026 to fund increased costs associated with utilities, fuel, energy, parts and equipment, and costs related to the Kona Low storm. Members, we have distributed a hand-carried proposed CD1 OCS 2026-0326-5-18-2026 at 8.52 a.m. Submitted by myself, the CD1 makes the following amendments. A in the third whereas clause and the be it resolved clause corrects the abbreviation for general fund to GN. B in the third whereas clause clarifies that the requested transfers are between activities and characters of expenditure within the Honolulu Fire Department, HFD. C in the fourth whereas clause clarifies that the increased costs are related to the March 2026 Kona low storms. D in the be it resolved clause adds HFD to the recipient activities in the table. And E makes miscellaneous, technical, and non-substantive amendments. Before we call up the administration, we will proceed first with the in-person oral testimony in the council chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. Proceeding now with remote testimony. Clerk, do we have any remote testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Seeing no testimony, we would like to welcome with us from the department Battalion Chief Craig Souza. Aloha and good morning, Battalion Chief Souza.

Aloha, Budget Chair Okamoto, Vice Chair Ishimoto. Craig Souza, Battalion Chief Honolulu Fire Department, and we support this resolution using salary savings for unanticipated increased costs of parts, equipment, and energy to include costs related to the Honolulu storm events.

Thank you, members. Do we have any questions for Battalion Chief Souza? Okay, seeing no questions, thank you so much. Members, we are in discussion. Seeing no further discussion, the Chair recommends that Resolution 26-121 be amended to a hand-carried CD1 identified as OCS 2026-0326-5-18-2026 at 8.52 a.m. Any discussion, any objections, any reservations? Hearing none, the resolution is amended to a CD1. The chair then recommends that resolution 26-121 CD1 be reported out for adoption. Any discussion, any objections or reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Moving on to agenda item number eight, resolution 26-122, authorizing a transfer not to exceed a total of $1,322,000 in the general fund monies from the provision for salary adjustments and accrued vacation pay activity, current expenses, character of expenditure, $11,500 in liquor commission fund, $1,260,500 in general fund and $50,000 in Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve fund monies to the Department of Corporation Council, Honolulu Fire Department and Ocean Safety Department activities, salaries, character of expenditure to fund accrued vacation payments and anticipated arbitration salary increase payments. Before we call up the administration, we'll proceed first with in-person oral testimony in the council chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. Proceeding now with remote testimony, clerks, do we have any remote testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. I have on my agenda from the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services. Oh, sorry, Director Kawano, I'm missing you back there. I'd like to welcome to the chamber with us Director Kawano from the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services.

Good morning, Budget Chair Okimoto, Chair Waters, Honorable Council Members, Andy Kawano, Director of Budget and Fiscal Services. Thank you for allowing us to testify on Resolution 26.122. Budget Chair Okimoto, you explained the reason why we are having to move money from the provision for salary adjustments and accrued vacation. vacations to these four departments, five departments, to cover collective bargaining pay increases and vacation payouts. So thank you.

Thank you very much, Director Kawano. Members, do we have any questions for the director? Council Member Dos Santos-Tam.

Thank you, Chair. With regard to the anticipated arbitration salary increase payments, I'm assuming these are for HFD and Ocean Safety. Does this cover all of their, does this cover their FY26 portion, or are we encumbering this so we can pay it out in FY27? This covers their 26 portion. And so the amounts requested in the FY27 budget, in their salary line items already cover the anticipated increases there. 427, correct. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member DeSantos-Tam. Members, any further questions for the Director? Thank you, Director Cuono. Seeing no further questions, members, we are in discussion. Seeing no further discussion, the Chair recommends that Resolution 26-122 be reported out for adoption. Any discussion, any objections, any reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Moving on to agenda item number nine, resolution 26-123 authorizes a transfer not to exceed $57,000 in general fund monies from the provision for energy cost activity, current expenses character of expenditure, to the Department of Emergency Services, emergency medical services activity, current expenses character of expenditure for the fiscal year 2026 to cover a projected shortfall caused by the increased fuel prices from various weather emergencies, such as the Kona low storms in March and April of 2026. Before we call up the administration, we'll proceed first with in-person oral testimony in the council chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers for this item?

Chair, there are none.

Thank you. Proceeding on with remote testimony, clerks, do we have any remote testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you very much. Joining us today from the Department of Emergency Services, I see Deputy Director Ian Senti. Good morning, Deputy Director.

Good morning, Budget Chair Okamoto, Council Chair, and committee members. Again, Ian Santee, Deputy Director, Honolulu Emergency Services Department. We support this resolution. And again, as noted, we've had the fluctu- as previous departments have stated, we've had fluctuating fuel costs. We are projected again up to $57,000 over our current budget and we are using some of our remaining funds. I think one of the questions earlier asked is how much do we actually have budgeted? So we have approximately $300,000 budgeted in our unleaded account and about $370,000 budgeted in our bottled diesel account. So the combination of those two do make it a little bit more challenging because of the increases response in the corner low. But I'm available for any questions.

Thank you, Deputy Director, Council Member Cordero. Thank you, Chair Okimoto. Hi, Deputy Director. If you could just share a little bit about how the fuel works, would it be you put in a certain amount that will then go to maybe like DFM or something that will then allow for the machines or fuel tanks to then siphon you off a certain amount of fuel? Or do you guys have your own fuel tanks like at your certain agencies?

No, great question. So Honolulu Emergency Services Department, we are able to fuel at one station in our YPO station. So we do purchase fuel directly from a vendor, but that doesn't service all of our 23 ambulances stations throughout the entire island. So we actually do go to the Department of Facility Maintenance and we receive a bill from them. We go to the Honolulu Fire Department, we receive a bill from them. And we go to the Honolulu Police Department and we receive a bill from them. So with the city's master agreement, there is some variance in the fuel cost base of the rising cost over the last couple months. So it was unpredicted until this incident happened. So we have various resources where we get our fuel from.

Thank you. I'm glad that you mentioned master agreement because I was going to ask, would it be helpful to have your agency have a master agreement as opposed to going to the different agencies? But I guess since they require more fuel, you have a good partnership anyway. Is that what it sounds like? Correct.

We have partnership. The city has a master agreement, but it does vary, again, based on the fuel situation.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair Okamoto. Thank you, Council Member Cordero. Council Member Kia-Aina.

Thank you. Deputy Director, I actually have a question for the Director of Budget and Fiscal Services.

Okay. Thank you. Director Kawano. Thank you again for joining us, Council Member Quirino.

Thank you. Director Cuomo, I'm just trying to better understand because now I'm seeing a lot of transfers relating to the Kona Low Storm. I know we've had several conversations in the budgetary hearing. Is it the intent of the administration to try to absorb as many costs from the current fiscal 2026 budget?

Yes, yes.

And what are we looking at again, total? Total funding that we're looking at to potentially absorb?

The total funding from the last briefing was about $100 million, $30 million in operating, $70 million in CIP. I think the $30 million will probably be adjusted at some point because I see projects in that number. So some of those costs may move to more permanent work or CIP.

With regard to us seeing all of these transfers, that is within the overall 100 million, correct?

Correct.

Okay, and I'm assuming that before we finish the budget, you guys are endeavoring to do further transfers through the budget hearing, is that correct?

We hope that we have what we need substantially in. We are accumulating our... object code for the storm to provide a report to Chair Waters. Chair Waters asked us for a recap.

And that report would include by item all of the various departments on all of the transfers so we can see the $30 million and the $70 million broken down. Is that correct?

It's going to include a summary of costs by storm by department. It's hard to relate it to transfers because some of the transfers have happened because of the general increase in fuel costs as well. Oh, got it. So there's a mixture.

Okay, no worries. I'm just trying to better understand all of this. Thank you for the clarification.

Thank you, Council Member Kia'aina. Chair Waters?

Thank you. Thank you, Director. Just... A reminder, we have a full council on June 3rd. So if you need help in the last minute, if we absolutely have to, we could do a special budget or a full council to transfer monies before the fiscal year ends.

Chair, we appreciate that. Thank you. We're trying to get everything scheduled, you know, following the normal calendar, the calendar in place. But yeah, if something comes up, we definitely will let you know. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Chair Waters. Council Member DeSantos-Tam.

Thank you, Chair. This is in regard to something that came up earlier in my questioning of HPD with regard to their fuel costs. Their fuel cost as proposed in FY27 is roughly the same as FY26, but we learned in their budget submittal that they anticipate an 8% increase in the cost. This was also submitted before the whole Iran debacle. we were just informed that how HPD goes about covering those fuel costs is a BFS decision. So is that indeed the case?

Partially yes, partially no. It's a team effort. What BFS will provide earlier in the year, you know, in the July, August timeframe, we provide rates, you know, so the estimated cost for diesel, unleaded, and so on and so forth. And the departments, depending on their, their current level of activity determine the usage. So it's a team effort and it goes back and forth. We work together on any cushion. There's some cushion in it for you know, situations like what's happening in the Middle East. Unfortunately, we probably don't have enough if the fuel levels stay up or go up higher into 27. It could be a challenge, but we're keeping our fingers crossed, right? We have a provisional set aside, and we're going to have to use it, I'm pretty sure, in 27. So like everyone else, we're going to have to be nimble and pivot as we have to to cover the cost so we can continue services.

And so if that provisional account does not exist, does DFS have a plan if that provisional account were to be zeroed out?

It's going to depend on where we end up with the FD1 adopted. You know, if we have to go through the resolution process, if there's a, you know, the larger account for operations and recovery, disaster recovery, we may have to go through there. But I'm hoping council understands that it will be extra work because we're going to have to go through the approval process.

And given where everything is, the director of DTS mentioned because of the fuel costs, they don't anticipate coming in for an additional request until later on in the year. But we're going to have to start paying these higher fuel costs now. Do you have a sense of when some of these first sets of transfers to cover energy costs may have to happen?

I don't have a good feel right now and don't want to guess, but I wouldn't be surprised if some come in, you know, straggle in late, especially for 26, fiscal year 26.

So we're already anticipating some costs from $26 billion to $27 billion?

It's hard to say, right? So it's going to depend on what happens from now through the end of the year. I'm hoping that we have enough to get by.

Well, DTS already just asked for a transfer now. And they mentioned that they go through about $2 million a quarter. So it's about $800,000 a month. And it's May. We have a month and a half. So that's about $1 million plus by the end of FY26. So are we going to be asking to cover that via the FY27 budget?

It's going to depend on when the payment is due. It's possible, yeah.

So we may start eating into some provisional funds earlier?

It's possible. There could be year-to-year carryover impacts. We try to prevent that, but it's possible. Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member DeSantis. Tam, Chair Waters.

Thank you. Director, I'm just looking at today's agenda. You got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine transfer of funds today. That wasn't created by the council. Or maybe it was, last year's budget. We didn't do a good enough job putting money where they're supposed to go. That's why we gotta transfer funds, right?

With 2020 hindsight, you could perhaps say that.

Yeah? Thank you. I know some of it's due to the Conolo storm. I think my notes show that maybe two of them or three of them are Conolo storm, but the rest of them are just because we didn't budget accurately last year.

Well, if you look at the ocean safety transfer, for instance, we didn't have their number at the time we did the FY26 budget for salaries. keep in mind that we have to roll back, right? So we did our best based on information available for some of them.

But here's the thing. It's okay. Stuff happens. And we're willing to work with you because we got through today nine transfer of funds in a pretty decent amount of time, right? But no comment necessary. I'm just commenting. Thank you. Do you want me to comment? No, no, no. Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Council Chair Waters. Members, any further questions for the director or HES department? Any other department? Okay, seeing no further questions, members, we are in discussion. Seeing no further questions or discussion, the chair recommends that resolution 26-123 be reported out for adoption. Any further discussion, any objections, any reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Moving on to agenda item number 10, resolution 26-124, authorizing a transfer not to exceed $650,000 in general fund monies from the Department of Customer Services, Division of Motor Vehicles Activity, salaries character of expenditure to the Department of Customer Services, Division of Motor Vehicles Activity, current expenses character of expenditure for fiscal year 2026 due to cost increases associated with increased volume and materials to process motor vehicle registrations and driver licensing. Before we call up the administration, we will proceed first with in-person oral testimony in the council chamber. Clerks, do we have any in-person testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. Proceeding now with remote testimony. Clerks, do we have any remote testifiers for this item? Chair, there are none. Thank you. Joining us in the chamber today, we have from the Department of Customer Services, Director Kimberly Hashiro. Good morning, Director Hashiro.

Hi, good morning, Budget Chair Okimoto, Council Chair Waters and members, Kim Hashiro, Director for the Department of Customer Services. The reason for this transfer request is because we are experiencing increases in some of our operating costs, primarily for postage and mailing, license plate, inventory replenishment, and also our DL card production system.

Thank you, Director Hashiro. Members, any questions for the Director? Thank you. Seeing no further questions, members, we are in discussion. Seeing no further discussion, the Chair recommends that Resolution 26-124 be reported out for adoption. Any further discussion, any objections or reservations? Hearing none, so ordered. Members, that brings us to the end of our agenda. I was gonna just allow some time to Council Member Cordero for an announcement.

Thank you, Chair Okamoto. I just wanna welcome to the City Council my intern. We have Ellie Mizue from Salt Lake. She is a graduate of Iolani School as a sophomore at Amherst College. So this is her literal first day at the City Council. So please welcome her. She'll be joining us until August before she goes back to school.

Thank you. Welcome. Thank you, Council Member Cordero. Any further announcements members? Seeing no further announcements, mahalo everyone for attending and participating in today's meeting. There being no further business, this meeting is adjourned.