WAILUKU - When Mayor Charmaine Tavares gave her fourth State of the County speech Thursday morning, the former athlete and coach used the New Orleans Saints' improbable Super Bowl win as a metaphor about what a community can achieve when it believes in its people and its leader.
The county's budget puka most likely will be stitched together through a combination of new or increased taxes and fees and slashed spending, Tavares said. Those ideas include upping the real property tax rate, halving residential trash pickup to once a week and adding to the county gas and diesel tax, which now stands at 16 cents per gallon.
"In my mind, we must have a combination of choices - reduce services and raise revenues - to find a balance that will enable us to keep our community strong," Tavares said.
Cost-saving options floated by Tavares included:
* Closing the Central Maui landfill one or two days a week.
* Draining one or more public swimming pools.
* Cutting hours of operation for county service centers.
Today's budget woes probably will continue through 2011, she said. Tavares also noted that there are recent signs of economic recovery, such as more hotel bookings and added flights to Maui from the Mainland.
The County Council Chamber was filled to capacity Thursday with a friendly crowd of mostly government employees, department directors and nonprofit heads. Most of those interviewed said they'd been told in the fall by the administration to anticipate budget cuts of 10 percent, which would be on top of 5 to 10 percent reductions for the current fiscal year.
That's because the looming fiscal year 2011 budget will have a shortfall of $50 million to $70 million, compared to this year's more than $564 million in total revenues. The $20 million difference in the estimated deficit will depend on whether state lawmakers agree to Gov. Linda Lingle's plan to take away the counties' share of transient-accommodations taxes, or hotel-room taxes.
After the speech, Tavares encouraged more public participation during the upcoming monthslong County Council budget sessions, which begin March 22. The council's budget is scheduled to be finalized in May, and the new fiscal year starts July 1.
Instead of getting too specific about her proposed budget, which she will present to council members at a separate news conference March 15, Tavares used a lot of hypotheticals during her 35-minute State of the County speech.
In fact, she asked 29 mostly rhetorical questions in her Saints-as-the-underdog speech, such as, "Do we keep going after we've been knocked down? Yes!"
The mayor, who is seeking re-election this year to a second four-year term, took a positive approach to the economic downturn. In pep-rally style, she implored the audience to keep moving forward. She indicated that she intends to continue with capital-improvement-project spending to improve infrastructure and provide construction jobs; as well as place an even greater emphasis on countywide energy efficiency.
"We are staying in the game," she said.
After her speech, Tavares said she was surprised by the "me, me, me" attitude of many of the nonprofits and residents during a series of community meetings on the budget hosted by the mayor. She said that some organizations didn't seem to get it and actually asked for increases in their budgets.
For their part, some nonprofit leaders said that in these difficult times, there are more demands on them from the public than ever. And over the years, the county has farmed out many of the programs it used to handle, they said.
"We will try to get a consensus," Tavares said afterward. "We will also make a list of spending priorities and cut from the top down if we have to."
Tavares said the county's spending cuts can be done without reducing county employee workweeks with furloughs or layoffs.
"I want no part of that," she said, saying it's created a dysfunctional state government. "It could take years to recover."
County Council Vice Chairman Mike Molina said that although the mayor spoke a lot about community togetherness in a time of adversity, which he liked, Tavares did not stress the importance of working hand in hand with the County Council.
"I appreciate her optimism, but the speech was lacking the kind of leadership that says, 'I'm gonna do this and this and this,' " Molina said. "It seemed more like she just threw ideas out there."
In her speech, Tavares said assessed property values have dropped over the past two years of the recession as home and business values plummeted, leading to the county's projected budget shortfall.
And the county will continue to suffer late hits since county revenues from property taxes are based on the previous year's receipts, she said.
"What if we adjusted tax rates so that the same amount or nearly the same amount of revenue can be generated as we have had in previous years?" she asked.
Maui Economic Opportunity Inc. Executive Director Sandy Baz said he was encouraged to see the mayor try to make people understand that they would be spending the same amount of taxes in order to sustain the services the county and nonprofits provide to the community.
Tavares said she's been able to stave off cutting services for the past two years - something she no longer can do - primarily with hiring freezes, reduced overtime and travel budgets, and deferring equipment purchases.
Tavares said budget discussions have focused on "core services," which the county is obligated to provide, such as public safety, water supply, environmental management, public works, transportation and housing.
"Oh yes, the cutting would be easy, but what would the fallout be?" Tavares asked.
Tavares said she will not stunt the growth of the county's increasingly popular public bus system. But she did suggest requiring bus users who now ride for free, such as the Kahului-Wailuku route, to pay fares. She also suggested higher fares for other routes.
Tavares also asked if the county should be charging a fee for unnamed "optional program services" as well as a higher tax for vehicle weight.
"There is a consequence for every action taken," Tavares said. "I've always tried to be a 'tell it like it is' person. I can't paint a rosy picture."
Still, the mayor's speech received several rounds of applause and a standing ovation at the end. Some in the audience said the mayor wore out the New Orleans analogy.
Others thought the mayor was inspiring and inspired.
"I thought she gave a really good speech," said Jocelyn Bouchard, chief executive officer of the Maui Humane Society. "It was realistic and motivating. I liked her analogies to the Super Bowl. I thought that was neat."
The text of the mayor's speech is online at mauicounty .gov/stateofthecounty.
* Chris Hamilton can be reached at chamilton@mauinews.com.
* This article includes a correction from the original published on Friday, Feb. 12, 2010. A portion of Mayor Charmaine Tavares' statement was omitted. The Maui News apologizes for the error.
