A bill allowing $44 million in city money to be used to help pay for the $8 billion-plus rail project won preliminary approval from the Honolulu City Council on Wednesday.

The vote was 7-2, with members Ann Kobayashi and Trevor Ozawa voting no.

If Bill 42 (2017) is given final Council approval at a special meeting on Oct. 30, it would mark the first time that money for construction of the rail would come from bonds that eventually would need to be paid off — with interest — from the city’s general operating budget, which is sourced primarily through property taxes.

But city officials deemed the vote critical for the 20-mile, East Kapolei-to-Ala Moana rail line to be completed as planned.

The Federal Transit Administration demanded the city find $44 million in taxpayer dollars to help pay for administrative costs associated with the project and detail, by Nov. 20, how that would be accomplished as part of an overall recovery plan for the troubled project. The FTA has committed $1.55 billion to the project, but held up releasing about $745 million pending the new recovery plan after the project’s price tag ballooned to $8.165 billion from $5.26 billion several years ago.

Currently, the only sources for funding have been an Oahu-only surcharge of the state general excise tax, or GET, and a portion of the transient accommodations tax, or TAT, also known as the hotel room tax.

Council Chairman Ernie Martin said Council members were reluctant to use city funds to pay for the rail because taxpayers had been told for years that wouldn’t happen.

He pointed out that Honolulu Authority for Rail Transportation officials have insisted they would not need to spend the $44 million, but were required to have it to satisfy the FTA. They said the version of the recovery plan the FTA was using for its calculations was outdated and that more recent forecasts for the GET surcharge revenue show there won’t be a need to borrow the money.

Meanwhile, Mayor Kirk Caldwell criticized Ozawa, the Council’s budget chairman, for delaying a vote on the bill, suggesting he was doing so because he is facing a tough challenge in his re-election bid.

But Ozawa denied that was the motivation, saying he wanted clarification of what the FTA was seeking. “Over a year ago, I moved to file (Bill 42),” he said. The motion was denied, he said.

Ozawa said he voted against the bill because “my constituents have been promised that rail would be paid for with GET tax and not property taxes.”

The $44 million that Council is considering is actually part of an estimated $214 million in administrative costs that the city is required to fund. But HART officials reiterated Wednesday that their projections show GET and TAT revenue will exceed earlier estimates, thereby negating the need to issue additional bonds.

The version of the bill passed Wednesday includes a stipulation that caps the amount of the city’s contribution at $214 million and no more than $26 million annually. (The $44 million now being considered is actually the sum of two years of required city contributions.)

A number of rail critics, including members of the Financial Accountability for Rail Mass Transit Association, testified against the bill. Several labor and business organizations, including the General Contractors Association and the Hawaii Laborers Union Local 368 voiced support.

Resolutions 18-127 and 18-132, which would authorize the city to issue bonds to borrow the money, will be up for final votes along with Bill 42 on Oct. 30, Martin said.

None of those measures address an additional $134 million that FTA officials believe should be included in HART’s official estimate.

HART Executive Director Andy Robbins and Chief Financial Officer Robert Yu told Council members they expect that amount to be covered by more robust GET and TAT revenue as well.