Caldwell urges HART, Council to act quickly to satisfy FTA

Mayor Kirk Caldwell on Tuesday urged the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation and the Honolulu City Council to work quickly to respond to demands made by the Federal Transit Authority or risk dire consequences.

“This is not a time to play chicken or delay,” Caldwell said, referring to an FTA letter Friday in which the agency demanded the city make good on its promises to come up with a recovery plan for the beleaguered $8 billion-plus rail project. “HART and the Council need to step up and do what’s been committed and promised,” he said.

FTA’s letter calls on the HART board to make a decision on how it intends to deliver the final, Middle Street-to-Ala Moana Center segment of the guideway project by Oct. 20; for HART to submit a revised recovery plan by Nov. 20; and for the Council to identify and OK the use of $44 million in city funds by Nov. 20

Council Chairman Ernie Martin said in response that he intends to deliver the votes to satisfy the FTA’s demands. As Council chairman, “I’ve never failed to deliver the votes on rail,” he said.

“There’s no need to panic,” Martin said, adding that he and other Council leaders simply were waiting for FTA to clarify its demands of the city. “With the FTA’s most recent letter, it’s very clear as to what needs to be done.”

At a news conference, Caldwell signed a letter to Council members urging them to move quickly to pass legislation committing the city to paying $44 million in borrowed money to cover a hole in the project budget.

FTA promised to fund $1.55 billion of the 20-mile, 21-station project under the agreement, but has withheld giving the city the final $744 million portion pending approval of a HART recovery plan to deal with the project’s cost overruns and schedule delays.

Caldwell said he’s worried that without Council approval of the two key measures, the FTA could withhold the remaining funds or, worse, seek repayment of what it’s already allotted.

The highly contentious Bill 42 (2017) lifts a restriction on the use of city funds for the rail project. First introduced in April 2017, the bill has been a political flashpoint for Caldwell and Council members reluctant to break a promise not to use property tax dollars to fund the project.

Caldwell said he’s supporting it only because the city is required to make the commitment as a condition of the Legislature’s agreement last year to extend a general excise tax surcharge, as well as provide a share of hotel room taxes, to fund the project.

Resolution 18-132 gives the city budget director the authority to issue and sell $44 million of general obligation bonds to help finance rail.

Martin said both measures were held up by the Council because members were waiting for clarification from HART.

The Council will need to hold a few extra meetings to meet the FTA deadlines, but Martin said the Council has done that before. “We have ample time to meet the deadlines imposed by the FTA.”

He questioned Caldwell’s motives for holding a news conference to make his request to the Council. “I think the mayor lost my number,” he said.

Caldwell acknowledged that he had not tried to contact Martin or other Council members to discuss FTA’s latest letter but said it was because his previous efforts have been rebuffed.

The HART board is scheduled to take a key vote Thursday on whether to change to a public-private partnership delivery method for construction of the final, Middle Street-to-Ala Moana section of the guideway.

The HART board has had the issue of the public-private partnership on its agenda the last several meetings but has yet to make a decision.

Caldwell said he expects to be at Thursday’s HART board meeting, just as he has been at the last two board meetings, urging the board to take action.

Without a decision on the delivery method, HART can’t submit the recovery plan to FTA, he said.

Caldwell noted that even if the board votes to proceed with a public-private partnership, it would still need a memorandum of understanding between HART, the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services and the Department of Transportation Services to proceed.

The FTA letter has reignited the feud between the Martin and Caldwell factions on the Council.

Councilman Ron Menor, who was deposed as chairman by Martin in March, and Councilman Joey Manahan, the Council’s former Budget chairman, flanked Caldwell during his press conference.

Menor said he’s bothered by “the failure of the City Council to pass appropriate legislation.” He sent his own memo to Martin asking that the measures be scheduled for votes immediately.

Councilman Trevor Ozawa, said he’s reluctant to break the promised made by Caldwell to not use city funds for the project.

“I don’t support using property taxes for rail construction and am seeing if there is a possible way where we can get to an agreeable position and not break the promises we made to the taxpayers,” the Budget Committee chairman said.