HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0104.004 2020-2022 P/5pecial PC
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Jerome Warren Oral Testimony to Hawaii County Council Finance Committee
April 15, 2021 Meeting
Agenda Item 7 — DEM CIP BUDGETt0UNTY CLERK
COUNTY.OF HAWAII
RECEIVED
Aloha Finance Committee Chair and Members, Time 10.1100..+1• r
I am Jerry Warren from Naalehu. Date APR 1 5 2021
In regard to the Naalhu sewer project, C.I.P. Budget item 7 — please consider that the
most powerful economic force in the world is the government's ability to tax its citizens.
And we know that it is easier to steal money from the government than to cheat a casino.
For example: take a look at Stacy Higa's TV station scandal. Honolulu's boondoggle is
the rail project. Hawaii County's boondoggle is Naalehu's wastewater. This utopian
project is costing every Big Island citizen untold sums of money every year. And all we
have to show are stacks of paper. The project needs an audit!
It is irresponsible to continue funding the Naalehu sewer project without auditing how
much money has been already given away over the past seventeen years. Every couple of
years we have another more elaborate plan. The stack of plans must be up to our waist by
now. The County Council's only path to redemption is to audit this project. It is overbuilt.
This is a politician's dream and a taxpayer's nightmare. An audit will pull us out of the
quicksand.
Please do not keep kicking the can down the road. Stop sweeping the dirt under the
rug. And don't stick your heads in the sand like councilmembers have been doing for the
past seventeen years.
In summary: don't just go along with the councilmember whose district this project is
in. Like Topsy, the plan just keeps growing. Please whittle it down to size. Don't leave it
up to the new director. You are the policy making body. You are the decision making
body.
PLEASE STOP LETTING THE TAIL WAG THE DOG. Ma halo.
Comm. No 'v .
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Ref. Date APR 1 5 2021