Rail chief declines his $35,000 bonus

By his request, Oahu’s top rail executive won’t get a bonus this year.

Dan Grabauskas, who serves as executive director of the Hono­lulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, on Thursday asked the agency’s board to forgo any consideration of the $35,000 annual performance bonus that he’s eligible for under contract.

The move comes as the rail project that Grabauskas oversees faces massive cash shortfalls, intense scrutiny and calls by the public to seek cost-saving measures.

HART is working "diligently and responsibly to reduce costs and demonstrate that we are responding seriously to the public’s call for fiscal austerity and self discipline," Grabauskas wrote in an April 2 letter. "Now simply is not the time" for the board to consider a bonus, he added.

The HART board voted 6-1 in favor of the request.

The members who voted to forgo the bonus said they did so reluctantly.

"I’m a bit upset that we have to consider this at all," said Keslie Hui, chairman of the board’s Finance Committee. Grabauskas, he said, has done "everything that he possibly can to lead this project and do the right thing for the people of Hawaii."

Rail now faces as much as a $910 million budget gap, generally due to lagging revenues and construction delays in a competitive local building market. But Hui and other board members said those issues weren’t Grabauskas’ fault and that he should be credited for guiding the project during a time of considerable crisis.

Grabauskas’ request also comes at a delicate moment for the project as state lawmakers decide whether to extend the rail tax.

Some legislators have questioned whether HART has pursued all possible cost-cutting measures before coming to them for the extension, particularly after an independent report from a federal contractor in December called the agency’s lack of cost-containment measures "alarming." On Tuesday, state senators further approved a resolution urging HART to seek more ways to cut project costs.

Grabauskas first joined HART as its director in April 2012, and he’s already received two annual $35,000 performance-based bonuses. Grabauskas’ original three-year deal, paying an annual base salary of $245,000, ends this month.

Grabauskas’ new contract, which was approved in October and goes into effect soon, gives him his first raise — at 5 percent. It provides a new a base of $257,000 and makes him eligible for a 3.5 percent raise in the subsequent two years.

His new contract also replaces the annual flat-rate bonus of $35,000 that he was eligible for with a range of bonus amounts that could equal as much as 15 percent of his salary. It retains his existing annual $36,000 housing and $6,000 transportation allowances and expires in three years.

Former state Senate President Robert Bunda cast the board’s dissenting vote Thursday, arguing that the group should still consider a bonus. The board, Bunda argued, shouldn’t be "wimps" and should "support (its) CEO because he’s done an excellent job."