HomeMy WebLinkAboutHolmes, Steve
Tsuneda, Kaci
From:Stephen Holmes <councilmemberholmes@icloud.com>
Sent:Thursday, August 27, 2026 5:42 PM
To:Council Testimony
Cc:Kimball, Heather; Manu Powers; Cory (Martha) Harden; Chuck Flaherty; J. Kara
Dumaguin
Subject:Sewer fund
Councilmembers:
My name is Steve Holmes and I served for 12 years on the Honolulu City Council and was Energy & Sustainability
Coordinator a?er that. I chaired the Environment and Public Works Commi?ee for much of my term in office.
Faced with similar federal mandates during the 90’s, the Honolulu City Council worked with bond counsel and dra?ed an
ordinance establishing a wastewater enterprise fund. It has been a huge success and I urge the Council to talk about this
with Honolulu officials like Dr. Roger Babcock P.E., Director of Environmental Services. Online, the independent audits of
this fund are posted and laid out in great detail. The fund stands apart from the General Fund and has a nice AA bond
ra?ng from Moodys. Enterprise funds are GASB approved and considered good accoun?ng prac?ces.
The County has entered into a binding legal agreement or administra?ve order on consent with EPA. Failure to comply
with the terms and deadlines imposing significant penal?es on a daily basis under federal law and it is enforceable in
federal court. If it ends up in court, the favorable terms granted in the AOC get much tougher.
The scope of just capital projects will break the piggy bank and raising sewer fees alone will not make the math work.
The other op?on is to work with the private sector to find solu?ons and again I point to successes that Honolulu was able
to achieve using partnerships and leave private capital to achieve compliance. One example was Synagro which has now
installed two digesters at the Sand Island WWTP that do cogenera?on, pasteurize the solids, and turn them into a
product that generates revenue. Another example is a water recycling partnership with Veolia at the Honouliuli WWTP in
Ewa. Billions successfully recycled and genera?ng revenue to pay for itself. All at huge savings to taxpayers.
The Council should send members over and see these impressive projects on a tour. The scale of this is huge by Hawaii
County standards, but the essen?al financing behind them would s?ll work here. Peer exchange between County Finance
officials is also encouraged. Hard to get ins?tu?ons to learn new things and EPA has offered assistance in crea?ng this
dialogue as well as with their own Finance Center that works with local governments around the country.
I urge the Council’s support as they are legally mandated.
Mahalo!
Steve Holmes
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
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