Rhetoric is heating up over the financial impact of the city’s planned $5.27 billion rail transit project as two top contenders for the mayor’s job traded accusations Tuesday of reckless spending and misinformation.
Former Gov. Ben Cayetano said the city’s prioritization of rail has taken as much as $17 million away from core city services such as public safety, flood control, road paving and street lighting.
"I have contended throughout the course of this campaign that the city’s policy of spending without doing due diligence is leading this city to a financial disaster of epic proportions," Cayetano said at a news conference Tuesday.
Mayor Peter Carlisle accused Cayetano of trying to create "fear and confusion" about the cost of the rail project by misrepresenting budget presentations made by his administration.
"This is tired old politics as usual," Carlisle said. "From the very beginning, my commitment has been to spend our money wisely, no matter what the spending is for.
"We are doing our best this year to maintain a balanced budget that does not call for more real property taxes."
Carlisle, who gained the office in a special election in 2010, is seeking a full four-year term against Cayetano and former city Managing Director Kirk Caldwell, the third major candidate in the race.
Carlisle said the rail project has dedicated sources of funding — federal money and money generated by the 0.5 percent general excise tax surcharge on Oahu — and that any debt incurred by the project will be paid by those funds.
"No money is being taken from sewers, road repairs or law enforcement to pay for rail," Carlisle said.
Cayetano said the mayor’s attempts to keep debt low have led to less spending on capital improvement projects for city services such as police, fire and ocean safety, road paving and others.
He also argued that project delays could lead to cost overruns that would push the city’s debt to "unsustainable" levels. Potential delays include lawsuits, such as one in which Cayetano is a plaintiff that seeks to stop the rail project.
Cayetano noted the U.S. Department of Transportation has not yet approved a full-funding grant agreement for $1.55 billion in federal money. He also said debt makes up about 12 percent of the city’s operating budget but could shoot as high as 28 percent if the project comes in over budget by 40 percent, which he said has been the Federal Transit Administration average for projects of this nature.
Meanwhile, the new executive director of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation met with the head of the FTA and members of Hawaii’s congressional delegation Tuesday in Washington, D.C.
Daniel Grabauskas, who officially begins his new role April 9, said in a news release that the meeting with the FTA went well and that Administrator Peter Rogoff reiterated comments made two weeks ago by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that the agency is committed to Honolulu’s project and its funding.
