LIHU‘E — Golfers at Wailua Golf Course are going to pay more to tee off and riders of The Kaua‘i Bus are going to pay more to hop aboard if fee-increase legislation before the Kaua‘i County Council is approved as expected.
LIHU‘E — Golfers at Wailua Golf Course are going to pay more to tee off and riders of The Kaua‘i Bus are going to pay more to hop aboard if fee-increase legislation before the Kaua‘i County Council is approved as expected.
The council Budget and Finance Committee approved the bill to increase fees at Wailua Golf Course, and there were no speakers at the public hearing on The Kaua‘i Bus fare-increase bill.
The new rates are intended to increase the users’ share of paying for what it costs to provide the services and decrease the amount of money that has to come from the county’s general fund to subsidize the services.
The rates would take effect July 1 if the bills are approved by the full council next month as anticipated.
Under the golf proposal, the resident daily weekday rate would jump from $10 to $15, the resident senior daily weekday rate from $9 to $12, and a new super senior resident weekday rate (for those 75 and over) would be $9. The junior resident rate would remain at $1. All of the rates except junior resident are slightly higher on weekends and holidays.
The price of a bucket of balls is rising from $1.50 to $2 for a small bucket, and $3 to $4 for a large bucket.
The county operating budget for fiscal year 2009-2010, which starts July 1, indicates the annual cost to operate Wailua Golf Course at $2.37 million with green fees and other income estimated to bring in over $1.66 million, and rents, concessions and other income at $436,580, leaving the need to move around $267,076 from the general fund to balance the golf course budget, according to the county operating budget bill approved by the council Budget and Finance Committee Thursday.
The fee increases are based on recommendations by the county Cost Control Commission, said Councilman Daryl Kaneshiro, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee.
The Golf Fund established to make the golf course self-sufficient had done just that until several years ago when major irrigation improvements were made, and general-fund revenues were needed to make ends meet, Kaneshiro said.
Bus fares would rise from $1.50 to $2 for adult paratransit and fixed-route mainline riders, but remain at 50 cents for adults on fixed-route shuttle lines, while senior and youth rates would rise from 75 cents to $1 for paratransit and fixed route mainline riders, and remain at 25 cents per rider on fixed-route shuttle lines.
Monthly passes would jump from $15 to $20 on July 1, and then to $25 on July 1, 2010, with the cost of a six-month pass at $90 as of July 1, and $120 on July 1, 2010. An annual pass is $180 as of July 1, and moves to $240 on July 1, 2010.
Current fiscal-year revenue for The Kaua‘i Bus is projected to be around $515,000, according to an e-mail from Janine Rapozo, county transportation executive.
Fiscal-year 2010 revenue was projected to be about $525,000 before the fare increase, consisting of fixed-route fares, contract-service income and senior-service donations, she said.
The fare increase is projected to result in a revenue increase of approximately $70,000, which would bring the fiscal 2010 revenue projection to about $595,000, she said.
“They (riders) know we’ve been really reasonable in trying to do that,” Kaneshiro said of keeping the fare increases minimal.
“They (riders) see the benefits of it,” he said of the fare increases when coupled with the securing of federal funds to purchase new buses in order to add more routes and get more people to ride.
The Budget and Finance Committee will hear the bill concerning bus fares at 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, at the Historic County Building. To view agendas in their entirety, visit www.kauai.gov.
• Paul C. Curtis, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@kauaipubco.com
