A proposed ballot question to ask voters whether the year-old Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation should be abolished failed Wednesday to win approval from the City Council.

The Council voted 5-4 in favor of the proposed City Charter amendment introduced by Councilman Tom Berg, but that was not enough to keep the issue alive. Charter amendments must be supported by six of the nine City Council members to be placed on the ballot.

HART was created July 1 to manage the $5.27 billion Honolulu rail project, and since then has been the hub of controversy surrounding the planned 20-mile rail line from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center.

Berg, an outspoken critic of the rail project, introduced the proposed charter measure to repeal HART in March. He said public opinion on the rail project has shifted since Oahu voters authorized the steel-wheel-on-steel-rail system in 2008.

Shutting HART down would save taxpayers money and would "end propaganda by HART" that favors rail, according to the resolution.

Maurice Morita, assistant director of the Hawaii Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, testified Wednesday against the resolution.

Morita said the voters authorized the city to create HART by approving a 2010 amendment to the City Charter, and said the agency should be given an opportunity to do its job.

It "would be a waste of taxpayers’ money" to abolish HART now, Morita said.

Voting in favor of advancing the proposed charter amendment to allow voters to decide whether to terminate HART were Council members Berg, Ann Kobayashi, Tulsi Gabbard, Romy Cachola and Ikaika Anderson.

Voting against the measure were Councilmen Nestor Garcia, Breene Harimoto, Stanley Chang and Ernie Martin.