With the City of Honolulu facing a $400 million budget deficit, Councilman Tommy Waters, the council’s new chair, has said that his top priority is balancing the city’s budget.
Waters said that it won’t be easy to find ways to cut the city’s budget, according to coverage by the Star Advertiser. Much of the budget covers essential services, which residents cannot do without.
“In county government, police, fire, ambulance, your garbage, your sewers, your roads, these are all very, very important things that we need every day, and I can’t see cutting any of those things,” Waters said, according to the Star Advertiser. “We’ve got to figure out how we’re gonna do it. Do more with less.”
At the same time, Waters said that the ongoing COVID-19 economic crisis rules out settling budget problems by simply raising taxes, according to the Star Advertiser.
At the same time, Waters does not favor any immediate change to the current policies in place restricting economic activity in order to reduce spread of the coronavirus, according to the Star Advertiser. He said it is possible some restrictions could be loosened, but emphasized the need to contain future COVID-19 spread.
Some of the options Waters said are on the table for reducing government spending include refinancing bonds or not refilling government positions as vacancies occur, according to the Star Advertiser.
Waters also is advocating for increased testing for the coronavirus, even calling for additional testing for travelers beyond what is required by the Safe Travels program, according to the Star Advertiser.
“Make this free. Have these testing machines all over the place,” Waters said, according to the Star Advertiser. “We could be testing our teachers twice a week, testing our students twice a week, right? Testing our sports coaches and athletes twice a week, just to ensure that they’re safe, and make it free.”