Mayor Kirk Caldwell broke precedent Thursday, signing a bill that will provide $44 million in city general funds to pay a share of the $8 billion-plus, East Kapolei-to-Ala Moana rail line.

Bill 42 (2017) allows the city to spend up to $214 million in all to help finance the administrative costs for rail construction. The Honolulu City Council approved the measure 7-2 on Tuesday.

Several key Council members who voted “yes” said the demands imposed by the Federal Transit Administration and the state Legislature left them no option but to reverse a 2006 decision to use only federal and state funds — and no direct city money — to foot rail’s tab.

Caldwell on Thursday said the FTA gave the city until Nov. 20 to commit the money, making the situation dire. The FTA agreed to providing $1.55 billion in funding but has held up $745 million of that pending receipt of a recovery plan from the city explaining how it intended to complete a project that was estimated to cost $5.26 billion up until several years ago.

Caldwell said the city would not be in the predicament had the Legislature agreed to extend a 0.5 percent surcharge on the general excise tax further than the 2030 extension that was granted last year. Instead, he said, Oahu property owners will now need to pay for rail both in GET and property taxes.

The administration will announce Monday how it intends to pay the $44 million, Caldwell said. He and his staff are inclined to obtain the funds through a short-term commercial paper form of borrowing, he said, a move would not require additional Council action.

Several Council members have said they would prefer the money come from the city’s rainy day fund, which has about $100 million in it for emergencies. The administration is looking at that suggestion, as well as a third option to reopen the 2019 operating budget four months into the fiscal year and look for unspent and uncommitted funds, Caldwell said.

But raiding the rainy day fund could raise concerns with the city’s bond raters, and reopening the budget and reshuffling funds could wreak havoc with agency budgets, he said. The two options also would require additional actions by the Council and cause further delays, he said.

Caldwell criticized Council Budget Chairman Trevor Ozawa for holding up the bill for political reasons and said the delays cost the city additional money in fees and interest costs.

Ozawa reneged on a promise he made to FTA officials that he would support the $44 million amount, Caldwell said, thanking Council Chairman Ernie Martin for moving the bill into the nine-person Legislative Matters Committee and out of the Budget Committee where Ozawa was holding it.

On Tuesday, Ozawa was one of two Council members to oppose Bill 42. Martin voted to support it.

Both Ozawa and Martin on Thursday disputed Caldwell’s assertions and countered that it was the mayor who turned the issue into a political matter.

Ozawa said he fulfilled his commitment to FTA by inserting $44 million into the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation’s capital improvements budget. He said he always has opposed using property taxes to pay for rail and never wavered from that commitment.

Caldwell misrepresented to federal officials how he and the Council chose to deal with the $44 million payment, Ozawa said. That prompted federal officials to issue a strong letter last month that put pressure on his colleagues to pass Bill 42.

Martin said Ozawa factored the $44 million into the HART capital improvements budget. But unlike Ozawa, he voted to support Bill 42 because he did not want to leave open any risk of losing up to $1.55 billion.

Martin denied pulling the bill from Ozawa’s committee, stating he and Ozawa agreed that the bill should be heard by the Legislative Affairs Committee given Ozawa’s view of the bill, the Budget Committee’s workload and that the issue was “a matter of critical importance” and needed to be vetted by a committee consisting of all nine members.

The Council will hold a special meeting Wednesday to discuss rail funding.