COM 0150.020 2012-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Honorable J Yoshimoto And Members of the Hawai`i County Council Page 2 May 2, 2013 County Population & Operating Budget 190,000 $410,000,000 188,000 $400,000,000 186,000 $390,000,000 184,000 $380,000,000 .+population 182,000 $370,000,000 - Budget 180,000 $360,000,000 178,000 $350,000,000 176,000 $340,000,000 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 Many more challenges lie ahead. We are emerging from this very difficult economic period with about 200 fewer workers on the county payroll than when this administration took office. However, the public worker furloughs that temporarily reduced salaries and wages to balance the budget in recent years will soon end. A series of new collective bargaining agreements have been negotiated on behalf of the state and the counties that will increase salary and wage costs. At the same time, expenses such as fuel, electricity, retirement and health care continue to increase. Our departments in recent weeks have made it clear we now face deep cuts in core, essential services such as transit, parks and environmental management. This council urged us to take immediate action to prevent this, and we are addressing those concerns with this amended budget. Addressing Community Needs As our community grows, the needs of our residents also grow. Our police must have additional officers to protect public safety and to assure acceptable response times in rapidly growing rural communities such as Puna and Ka`u. Our firefighters need additional resources and equipment to prepare them for the challenges of serving growing communities and the increasing demands of an expanding population. Demand for park space for our youth and our growing population is at an all-time high, which means the need for efficient park maintenance services is equally pressing. We are proud that the ridership on our Hele-On Bus system has steadily increased to record levels,but the skeleton staff of mechanics and support personnel that keeps our transit system running is now stretched to the limit. These pressing needs cannot be addressed with another year of budget reductions. Therefore, this budget proposal seeks to build on the efficiencies that we have achieved during the past four years of budget cuts, and strategically invest resources into areas where our residents are now demanding improvement and innovation. We will make these investments to better serve our communities while keeping the cost of government lower than it was at the start of this administration. We will collect less in property taxes next year than this county collected when we first took office four years ago. County of Hawaii is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer.