The Hawai'i County Council has passed a budget of more than $610 million for the year, adding approximately $1 million to Mayor Mitch Roth's proposed operating budget.
Several amendments yielded new equipment for firefighters, more funding for parks, IT systems, community policing and the hiring of four additional vehicle-registration and licensing clerks to address issues relating to acquiring licenses.
While the final budget was passed unanimously, 8-0 with one member absent, concerns were raised about the process.
Council member Tim Richards said he does not like a process that appropriates funding without knowing exactly how much something will cost.
"We are stumbling," Richards said at the meeting.
The budget for the year beginning July 1 predicts $10.5 million of increased property taxes from new evaluations, $5 million more in grants and $3.1 million in savings. The council has also accepted $19.6 million from the American Rescue Plan, the first installment of close to $40 million in total.
Some of the added programs and new hires will be paid from the fund balance, that is money saved from the year ending June 30.
Richards said he is worried about taking from the fund balance when it is not known how much money will be left at the end of the year.
“This year was weird because of the expenses we didn’t incur," he said. "The further we keep playing with the fund balance, the more concern I have."
The budget was unopposed with Hilo Councilman Aaron Chung absent and represents a 4.1% increase over this year's.
Hilo council member Sue Lee Loy sponsored an amendment putting $100,000 into parks maintenance and $65,000 into community policing, giving each of the nine council districts about 200 extra hours of community policing
"I think we’ll be OK with the million, but after that I might not be smiling," finance director Deanna Sako said of the added expenses. "We’re definitely trying to be conservative because our taxpayers are struggling as well."