Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell on Tuesday again urged the City Council to stop a bill that he describes as a form of “corporate welfare” because it would largely help one recycling company: Schnitzer Steel Hawaii Co.

The Council is scheduled to hold an override vote today on Bill 50, which would give metal recyclers a 25 percent discount on refuse disposal fees at the landfill or the city’s HPOWER waste-to-energy incinerator plant. Caldwell vetoed the bill March 3, and an override vote requires support from six of the nine Council members.

The Council voted 7-1 on Feb. 17 to approve the bill.

City officials estimate that the city would lose an estimated $600,000 in taxpayer revenue and that nearly 90 percent of that total would benefit Schnitzer.

At a news conference at the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill on Tuesday, Caldwell said he was offering to the Council the draft of a new bill that he maintains would be more in line with helping smaller businesses at less of a financial hit to taxpayers while encouraging recycling.

Recycling residue, the nonrecyclable byproduct left after processing, is typically disposed of by major recyclers at either Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill at Kahe Point or the HPOWER waste-to-energy facility at Campbell Industrial Park. Those recyclers pay the city $81 per ton (plus $25.35 per cubic yard in tipping fees) to dispose of the residue. A 25 percent discount would mean they would pay $60.75 per ton, beginning Jan. 1.

Caldwell’s bill would provide the same 25 percent discount for each recycling operator, but only for the first 1,250 tons of residue accepted at HPOWER. “What this bill does is it gives it to those who really need it the most … the smaller companies who are struggling,” Caldwell said.

Administration officials said the new bill would cost taxpayers about $85,433, while the bill up for an override would add up to $600,000 in lost revenue. About seven retailers in all would be eligible to receive the discount, and Schnitzer is the only one that drops off more than 1,250 tons annually, they said.

A Schnitzer Steel representative could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

But Schnitzer officials have stated repeatedly that the subsidy would help not just their company, but also other companies in the same or related businesses who use their services. Jennifer Hudson, Schnitzer corporate assistant general counsel, told Council members in September that the company’s customer base is estimated at 800.

About a half-dozen companies, besides Schnitzer, gave either oral or written testimony in support of the bill.

Paul Perry, president of Leeward Auto Recyclers, warned Council members during the public hearings that he might need to shut down soon if he does not get a subsidy. Perry said falling scrap metal prices coupled with compliance regulations that cost more money and higher hazardous-waste disposal costs all are making it tougher for him to stay in business.

But city Environmental Services Director Lori Kahi- kina said Tuesday there are no assurances that Schnitzer will pass on its savings to Perry or other subcontractors. “There’s no guarantee that it will go down to the little guys,” she said.

The mayor’s bill would give discounts directly to the seven recycling companies going to HPOWER, Kahikina said.

City officials also noted that the recyclers have gone without a subsidy since 2013, when the Council chose to discontinue it, and have been able to stay in business.

Caldwell added, however, that if there are subcontractors who are in need of assistance, “I’m willing to look at that.”

Caldwell said the money saved under his proposal could be used to fund a new, eight-person Asset Development and Management Division that would handle housing development at a cost of $477,000. The plan has received a lukewarm reception so far from the Council Budget Committee.

He questioned why Council leaders are criticizing the need for such an agency when the Council rejected the sale of 12 city-owned rental projects and created the need for more staff when it gave $64 million in general obligation bonds to the administration to develop housing for the homeless and people in lower income brackets.

The mayor also took direct aim at Council Chairman Ernie Martin, who said he introduced the bill on behalf of recyclers. Martin is considering a challenge to Caldwell’s re-election bid this fall.

“The chair of the Council has encouraged this bill to move forward,” Caldwell said. The initial bill called for a 50 percent discount, which later dropped to 25 percent to make it more palatable, he said. “To me it looks more like a political decision than a good policy that encourages recycling.”

Martin, in a written statement in response to Caldwell’s news conference, said he was disappointed that the mayor “again” chose to air his disagreements with Council members through the news media.

“The protocol for offering a compromise is to include the bill in his veto message to the Council,” Martin said. “He spends way more time talking to the press than he does working with the community and the Council. He likes to put on a show in front of the cameras and that’s how the members learn of his plans. Every time.”

Martin said he will urge Council colleagues to “give (Caldwell’s bill) the consideration it is due.”