Hawaii County officials met House lawmakers at the state Capitol on Wednesday to urge them to convene a special session to provide another $17.4 million in state funding for the county’s “immediate needs” for recovery from the damage done by Kilauea Volcano lava.
However, House Speaker Scott Saiki said lawmakers are not yet ready to commit to that plan, and urged county officials to search for other ways to finance the near-term recovery effort.
That could include asking Gov. David Ige to tap into the $125 million that was earmarked last spring for flood recovery on Kauai and Oahu, because much of that money has not been spent, Saiki said.
“Our general message to them was that we want to be helpful and supportive. We just need to ensure that their proposal is tightened up and justified,” Saiki said.
Hawaii County officials also notified House members Wednesday that preliminary estimates of the flood damage from Hurricane Lane to public facilities such as roads and bridges totaled nearly $20.5 million on Hawaii island. That does not include major flood damage to 29 privately owned homes and three businesses on the island.
The National Weather Service reported Hurricane Lane drenched Mountain View with 52 inches of rain from Aug. 22 to Aug. 27, which is believed to be record rainfall for a tropical cyclone for Hawaii. The Hilo neighborhood of Waiakea Uka recorded 49.48 inches of rain during the same period, while Piihonua in Hilo saw 48.13 inches of rainfall.
The Kilauea eruption that began on May 3 covered more than 6,000 acres of land in Lower Puna with lava, destroying more than 700 homes in the Leilani Estates and Kapoho areas, and burying or isolating more than 1,600 acres of farmland.
County officials have provided a number of estimates of the amount of money they need for recovery from the eruption, including funds for possible land purchases or compensation for landowners in the affected areas.
The latest estimate presented to lawmakers Wednesday by Executive Assistant Roy Takemoto and county Research & Development Director Diane Ley is that $765 million will be needed in state, federal and county funding.
Hawaii island Mayor Harry Kim did not attend the Wednesday meeting, but has said only about $100 million of that would be the state’s share.
Saiki said one concern raised at the meeting is the county eruption recovery plan assumes about $440 million would be covered by the federal government through Community Development Block Grant funds, “but there’s no commitment by the federal government to provide those funds at this point.”
The total package of “immediate needs” for the county amounts to more than $61 million, with $30 million of that yet to be requested from the state or federal governments, Ley said. County officials want another $5 million to be provided to state agencies to help with the lava flow recovery effort, and are seeking $17.4 million from lawmakers in a special session.
That last category includes $2.2 million for operational support such as employee overtime; $2.6 million for housing assistance; nearly $5 million for relocation and support for agricultural operations; and $3.15 million to relocate the Kua O Ka La Public Charter School that was displaced by the lava flow.
Another $2 million is being requested for revitalization of Pahoa Village business district, including improvements such as a parking lot and visitors center, Takemoto said.
County officials also asked lawmakers Wednesday to consider changes in state law that would make land swaps possible to help property owners in the areas that were affected by the lava, which include Leilani Estates subdivision and Kapoho.
Takemoto said the Kim administration also hopes to increase the 0.25 percent excise tax surcharge that the Hawaii County Council approved last June, raising the county surcharge to 0.5 percent.
Currently state law restricts the use of the money from the county surcharge to transportation projects such as roads, but Takemoto said the administration hopes lawmakers will expand the allowable uses for that money. The 0.25 percent tax surcharge is expected to raise about $25 million a year, and doubling it would raise a total of about $50 million per year.
Ige has so far provided $12 million to Hawaii County to help cover the operational costs of coping with the eruption, such as police overtime and operating shelters for evacuees. County officials said Wednesday about $6 million remained at the end of August, but that money likely will be spent by the end of this calendar year.
“They’ve asked us some good questions, we need to do follow-up, and I think have further conversations,” Ley said. She said the county likely can manage without a special session, “but I think that every day we defer action on some of these large initiatives … is a day that homeowners and businesses are left in limbo.”
SEEKING HELP
Hawaii County officials are seeking big money from the state and federal governments.
KILAUEA ERUPTION
$17.4M
For “immediate needs” for recovery from the damage such as housing assistance, and relocation for agriculture operations and a school
HURRICANE LANE
$20.5M
Preliminary estimates of damage to public facilities such as roads and bridges
