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As the Legislature nears its crunch, key lawmakers are showing signs they finally mean what they say about holding Honolulu rail accountable for incessant mismanagement and budget deficits.
The Senate refused any extension of the half-percent rail excise tax to cover massive cost overruns, and the House was only slightly more generous with a two-year extension — well short of what Mayor Kirk Caldwell says is needed to finish the 20-mile line from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center.
If the two legislative money committee chairwomen stand firm, the mayor’s chances remain grim when the houses resolve their differences in conference committee.
House Finance Committee Chairwoman Sylvia Luke ripped the city for telling legislators two years ago that a five-year tax extension would be enough to finish, only to now come back seeking many times more as costs have soared from
$5.2 billion to $10 billion.
“The calls for cost control and accountability have pretty much been ignored, so here we are again,” she said.
Senate Ways and Means Chairwoman Jill Tokuda said the city must manage its own finances competently before getting further state bailouts.
The long-overdue hard line has the city in drama mode; Caldwell threatened to raise Oahu property taxes by 8 percent to 14 percent if he’s not given at least a 10-year tax extension, and Councilwoman Kymberly Pine warned other city services will be cut to the bone to clear money for rail.
Luke dismissed it as cheap blackmail, saying, “Threatening the public with property tax increase is doing a disservice to our citizens. The city must first do whatever they can do instill confidence and trust in this project.”
That’s the nut of the problem; the city endlessly pursues rail funding with tiresome theatrics instead of sound planning and honest numbers.
Caldwell won’t say how much he thinks rail will end up costing and keeps shifting how much of an excise tax extension the city needs to finish, starting with a plea to make the tax permanent before falling back 20 years and now 10 years.
The city has offered the Legislature nothing new in terms of meaningful cost-cutting initiatives or funding options other than raising taxes.
Caldwell and rail officials have no Plan B; their only plan is to keep throwing good money after bad in the hope they’ll eventually stumble to the finish line.
And this is just rail construction costs, with discussions barely begun on how the city will pay more than $100 million in annual operating and maintenance costs.
Legislators have a long record of caving in to the powerful rail establishment, but Luke and Tokuda are right that it’s time to deny more big taxpayer bailouts until Caldwell produces credible numbers and a path forward we can trust.
Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.
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