It is time for neighbor island mayors to turn over their cards so voters can see what Mayors Alan Arakawa, Billy Kenoi and Bernard Carvalho Jr. are holding.

The neighbor island counties have one year, starting this month, to decide if they want to raise the general excise tax by half a percentage point.

According to House Bill 134, which Gov. David Ige said he will not veto, Honolulu gets its deal to extend the transit tax for another five years. When it was before the Legislature, all the attention was on Mayor Kirk Caldwell begging to increase funding for the over-budget Honolulu rail project.

But the other counties were eying ways to get more money. Now the Big Island, Maui and Kauai have a shot at grabbing more excise tax money by voting for a tax increase in the next 12 months.

Some like Maui’s Arakawa wanted to double the tax increase, telling lawmakers during the session to "allow the counties the flexibility to add a surcharge of up to 1 percent."

The counties lost state money when a portion of the so-called hotel room tax known as the transient accommodation tax was trimmed by the Legislature. But now the new tax increase can go for more than a Honolulu-style rapid transit system.

The bill says the tax increase can go for "for public transportation systems, including public roadways or highways, public buses, trains, ferries, pedestrian paths or sidewalks, or bicycle paths."

On Kauai, the former mayor, Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, says the money should go for a transit system.

"I think it’s imperative to expand our transit system if we want to solve our traffic congestion," Yukimura said. "Our traffic problem is not going to be solved by just building and expanding roads," she said, according to a report in The Garden Island. Still, raising taxes even after you begged for the chance to do so is an iffy project.

West Hawaii Today reports that the tax increase was not something everyone was jumping to endorse.

Even Kenoi said he won’t ask for the tax increase, although he is ready to support it.

"It’s an important tool, it’s an additional tool to pay for important infrastructure," the newspaper quoted Kenoi as saying. "It’s something we’ll take a look at. It’s not something we’re asking the Council to do at this time."

Dru Kanuha, Hawaii County Council chairman, was equally cautious.

"I like the ability of the county to say whether it’s going to happen or not," Kanuha said. "I think it’s important for us all to talk about it. … I’m just glad we have the opportunity to say whether it’s good or bad for our county," he told West Hawaii Today.

Maui’s Arakawa did not respond to inquiries to comment last week, but House Speaker Joe Souki, a veteran Maui legislator, said he thought Maui would back away from the chance to raise taxes.

"Maui is doing pretty well financially. The tax base is good and the bond rating is quite high, so I’m not sure they will go for it, but I could be wrong. I wish they would, because I think it would help with their transportation problems," Souki said in an interview.

This year will tell whether neighbor island pols think an expanded county budget is worth the political perils of putting their name on a tax increase.

Richard Borreca writes on politics on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach him at rborreca@staradvertiser.com.