NAWILIWILI — Kaua‘i County Council members spent almost two days making decisions on Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s budget for Fiscal Year 2012, only to see themselves revisiting every decision at the end of the day Tuesday. “Let’s all be prepared
NAWILIWILI — Kaua‘i County Council members spent almost two days making decisions on Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s budget for Fiscal Year 2012, only to see themselves revisiting every decision at the end of the day Tuesday.
“Let’s all be prepared for a very long night,” Council Chair Jay Furfaro said after being told by County Attorney Mona Clark that the County Charter supersedes his rules, even though other council members had agreed to them Monday at the beginning of the decision-making process.
It was already past 4 p.m. and the council’s Committee of the Whole had yet to vote on the $83.12 million proposed budget for Capital Improvement Projects.
With no third decision-making meeting scheduled, the committee was expected to finish voting on the entire proposed Fiscal Year 2012 budget late Tuesday night. The proposed operating budget for next fiscal year, which begins July 1, is $161.71 million, plus the addition of a new $24.27 million reserve fund.
Prior to voting on a motion to remove $175,000 from the budget by eliminating an established county curbside recycling program, Furfaro reminded the council that five votes were necessary to subtract a line item from the budget proposal.
This rule, introduced by Furfaro and agreed upon Monday by the other six council members, was supposed to make everything the council voted on veto-proof. The mayor has the power to veto each line-item, Furfaro said. A super-majority is needed to override a veto.
However, Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, who made the motion, challenged Furfaro’s reasoning, saying that the motion was to subtract a line item, and the mayor cannot veto a budget cut.
A quick discussion ensued, with Furfaro reminding them that the rules had been agreed upon.
A recess was called and after conferring with county attorney Mona Clark, County Clerk Peter Nakamura, other council members and staff, Furfaro called the meeting back to order.
“Based on what the county attorney has told me, this cannot override the Charter,” Furfaro said.
“It’s quite disturbing, I guess, that that trump card would be pulled right now,” said Councilman Mel Rapozo, adding that the Charter may supersede the chair’s rules but this is his seventh budget review process and the “council has always utilized the five-vote rule to protect from the veto.”
Rapozo said he would “bow to the Charter” because he took an oath, but he would like to revisit every line item he had sought to remove.
Furfaro called for a dinner break at 4:30 p.m., but not before saying how disappointed he was because he thought all members had an “understanding” going through the budget.
Charter Section 19.07 states, in part: “Upon the conclusion of the hearings, the council may reduce any item or items in the mayor’s proposed budget by a majority vote and may increase any item or items therein or add new items thereto by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the entire membership.”
Before going on dinner break, the council voted on the line item that spurred the whole challenge to Furfaro’s rules. The deletion of the line item ended up receiving five “aye” votes and one “no” vote, meeting the charter’s and chair’s requirements.
Rapozo voted against deleting the item, and Councilman Dickie Chang recused himself because of a possible conflict of interest.
Yukimura has championed recycling for a long time. Her motion to delete the curbside recycling program was based on the administration not being ready to move forward with developing a Materials Recovery Facility to process recyclables.
The county was paying Garden Isle Disposal about $2,000 per month, but the contract was amended to $14,000 to be viable for the contractor.
The council returned from its dinner break, reviewed each line item that had already been voted upon, and made no changes. The legislative body was working on the CIP budget at press time.
See an upcoming edition of The Garden Island for more information on the decision-making process.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
