Honolulu’s rail agency bucks the standard across the country in terms of its apolitical leadership and outsourced budget authority.
While most boards in other cities are run by politicians, the board of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transit has no elected officials.
And while many rail boards around the nation have complete authority over their capital and operating budgets, Honolulu’s has defaulted to the City Council.
Control of Honolulu’s rapid transit budget was the source of controversy early in the summer.
Mayor Peter Carlisle argued that the charter amendment that created the board gives the board complete authority, while the City Council insisted that it should have oversight.
The board decided to leave the issue alone and adopted the Council-approved budget this year.
Honolulu’s rail board was also formed in an attempt to depoliticize oversight of the planned $5.3 billion system.
But political transit boards seem to be the standard across the nation, said Adrian Moore, a transportation economist and vice president of the libertarian think tank Reason Foundation.
"And that’s part of the problem," Moore said. "It means that they look at decisions as more political decisions."
Moore said he agrees that Honolulu’s City Council should approve the rail authority’s budget.
"You can’t give funding authority to an unelected body," he said. "The budget authority must rest with an elected body. If you’re going to have an appointed, nonelected board, they’re going to need some elected body to provide their budget. Otherwise that’s a recipe for disaster."
Former city Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz, now a state senator, wrote the charter amendment ballot initiative that created the board. He has said it was his intention to have the City Council approve the rail agency’s budget.
Former U.S. Rep. Charles Djou, a Republican and former city councilman, said although he opposes the rail system, he pushed for a rail authority separate from local politics. He said he’s also glad the rail board deferred budget authority to the City Council.
"The voters voted in favor of rail, and I still don’t like it, but if we’re going to do it, let’s make sure we do it right," he said. "I still believe (the authority) should be accountable to city officials."
BY COMPARISON, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority adopts its own budget but is required to have public hearings on it.
Los Angeles’ MTA board has 13 members, all elected officials. Its board chairman is Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and its vice chairmen are the vice mayor and the Los Angeles County supervisor.
MTA spokesman Rick Jager admits that with a board that size, the discussions can get long-winded.
"But ideally at the end of the day, the object of the game is to build consensus, get the votes and get the job done," Jager said. "And that’s what our board has been able to do over the years."
In 1951 the Los Angeles MTA was formed with a seven-member board, all appointed by the California governor. But by 1964 the California Legislature recognized that the board was limited in its political influence. It did not have the power to levy taxes for any purpose, nor the right to acquire real property by eminent domain.
In 1964 the Southern California Rapid Transit District was formed to succeed the MTA, made up of an 11-member board of representatives from various cities, chosen by a selection committee.
But by the 1970s the SCRTD started to fall apart because of a lack of procedure for resolving conflicts between decision makers at the federal, state and local levels. The board also only had two representatives from Los Angeles, and there was a lack of participation by residents.
California lawmakers then created transportation commissions to address these concerns, made up of all elected officials.
In 1993 the Southern California Rapid Transit District and the L.A. County Transportation Commission merged to form the MTA as it is today.
Although the system is overseen by politicians, many of the transportation initiatives are voter mandates, Jager said. He pointed to a voter-approved half-cent sales tax called Measure R, which took effect in 2009 and is expected to fund $40 billion for traffic relief and transportation upgrades for the next 30 years.
"That kind of takes some of the politics out of it," Jager said.
The Metro rail system consists of 66 stations and operates over 70 miles, with 255 rail cars. Honolulu’s system will have 21 stations over 20 miles, with 80 rail cars.
In Phoenix the Valley Metro’s board is made up of mayors of five different cities and is led by a city council member. It also approves its own budget for capital and operating expenses, said Hillary Foose, Valley Metro spokeswoman.
The mayors can choose to send a designate to represent the city on the board as well, Foose said.
Valley Metro’s chief executive officer has the authority to award contracts under $100,000. For anything larger, the executive has to go before the board for approval.
"We only know this one way of doing business," Foose said. "I think the ties with the city are positive because we receive a good amount of funding from them. I think we are able to work with them. They have our best intentions at heart, as they’re trying to move transit through the valley."
The TriMet board, in Portland, Ore., is made up of seven members, all appointed by the Oregon governor. Most come from a business background, similar to Honolulu’s board, and usually do not have any transit background.
Portland’s board has oversight over its annual operating and capital budgets, and does not need approval from lawmakers, said Claire Potter, TriMet’s director of financial analysis and grants administration.
"There is a commission called the Tax Supervisory and Conservation Commission that reviews public budgets for compliances and writes a report," Potter said.
Moore of the Reason Foundation said he believes boards made up of private-sector individuals and elected officials are the most effective.
"The rail board, it’s not supposed to be political, it’s supposed to be an oversight body," he said. "There’s no political practice out there that says the best oversight members are political officials. Rather, the best oversight members should not be running for office."
Djou said he believes other jurisdictions have a political board because of the number of cities their systems run through.
"It’s because you have all these municipal governments," said Djou. "It would be administratively cumbersome. Every time a rail system would need an approval, you’d need approval from several different city councils. A rail transit authority makes things more efficient."
