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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Honolulu City Council adopts $5.19B budget package
Two late votes by the Hono lulu City Council Wednesday evening finalized approval of a $5.19 billion budget package for the city's 2026 fiscal year, which begins July 1. The Council unanimously adopted a $3.91 billion executive operating budget, which in general will fund city salaries, police and fire services and street and parks maintenance. The panel also fully passed a $1.28 billion capital improvement program budget meant to pay for infrastructure improvements. The Council-approved budget is a 10.4 % increase over Honolulu's current $4.7 billion budget, which expires June 30. Mayor Rick Blangiardi has within 10 days to sign the budget bills into law. The latest budget includes $1.5 million toward new ambulances and six full-time equivalent positions to improve emergency response times on Oahu, particularly in Maunawili, Ko Olina, and Koolaupoko. Council additions also include $500, 000 in traffic safety upgrades near school zones, and $400, 000 in community policing support for all eight Honolulu Police Department districts, among other funding. And under the finalized CIP budget, Council member Andria Tupola successfully added $1.7 million to pay for the long-awaited improvements to an unfinished Waianae Police Station at 85-939 Farrington Highway. 'So we can finish the project, ' she added. But of note on the Council's latest budget vote was the hours-long delay toward its approval. Following back-and-forth discussions inside Honolulu Hale's Council Chambers Wednesday, the panel took a meeting recess after 5 p.m. The Council's final votes cast came after 9 p.m., in a meeting that began over 12 hours earlier. 'The extended recesses were required to carefully review and reconcile the Council member's changes in the draft legislation on the floor, ' a Council spokesperson told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Thursday. On Wednesday, changes arose after Council Chair Tommy Waters' introduced a new floor draft of Bill 22—the executive operating budget—that morning. In that bill, Waters looked to redirect up to $19.1 million in previously appropriated but unused, or 'lapsed, ' city departmental funds to bolster the city's sewer fund, as a way to defray the cost of anticipated multiyear sewer fee rate increases expected to start July 1. 'We have established a provisional account with the general fund to allow the sewer fund to access it as a contingency when needed, ' Waters said. 'If the funds go unused for sewer activities they will lapse back into the general fund.' But city staff balked. 'We were kind of confused and surprised this morning when we saw the posted (floor draft ) by yourself, Chair Waters, ' city Department of Budget and Fiscal Services Director Andy Kawano said at the meeting. He added, 'It doesn't make sense to take funding out of departments for salaries and current expenses and set aside in a provisional for sewer activities when we, in fact, should not use it.' Kawano stated such an action could harm the city's AA + bond rating—the city's creditworthiness that impacts its ability to do bond financing—as the city tackles federally mandated, multibillion-dollar upgrades to its sewer treatment infrastructure and related utilities. Waters' floor draft—opposed by city staffers and questioned by Council members—later evaporated. Waters' attempt to add general funds mirrored his introduction of Bill 43 last month—a measure which was ultimately postponed during a recent meeting of the Council's Executive Management committee. On May 5, Waters advanced Bill 43, meant to redirect a portion of the 3 % visitor-generated Oahu transient accommodations tax, which in part is earmarked for Honolulu's rail project, to the city's sewer fund. But the chief critic of Waters' measure—BFS Director Kawano—asserted such an action was not a feasible option for the city to pursue. 'This measure will negatively impact the city's general fund and deviate from the intended purpose of the TAT, which is to provide general fund capacity to fund city services ; mitigate the strain visitors place on public facilities, emergency serv ices, and natural resources ; and provide additional funding for rail (i.e., 'Skyline') construction, ' Kawano wrote in a May 12 letter to Council. In related business Wednesday, the Council on a split vote adopted its version of city-initiated Bill 60, which deals with anticipated increases to the city's sewer fee rates. As part of the budget process, the Blangiardi administration proposed a 10-year, 115 % sewer fee rate increase that's expected to begin this summer. City officials say sewer fee hikes are necessary to support the city Department of Environmental Services' ongoing wastewater operations and maintenance efforts, as well as a $10.1 billion capital improvement program for Oahu's wastewater collection and treatment system that's planned through 2040. And they assert the work includes a $2.5 billion upgrade to the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant as required under a 2010 federal consent decree. On Wednesday, the Council voted 5-4—with Esther Kia 'aina, Scott Nishimoto, Tupola and Waters dissenting—on Budget Committee Chair Tyler Dos Santos-Tam's draft of Bill 60, which shaves the city's decade-long span for increased rates down to about six years. That plan would start Jan. 1, 2026, and run through 2031. As approved, Bill 60's sewer fee increases for a household that uses about 6, 000 gallons of water per month—deemed 50 % of all single-family households in Honolulu—equates to a 6 % increase in sewer fees in fiscal year 2026, 7.5 % in fiscal year 2027, 8.5 % in fiscal year 2028, followed by 9 % over the remaining three fiscal years. After the year 2031, sewer rates would increase 3 % annually. As proposed, a household that uses 6, 000 gallons a month is currently charged $99.77 on average. By year 2031, that average bill would rise to $160.85, a more than 61 % increase, ENV data indicates. Under Dos Santos-Tam's Bill 60, ENV will have authority to set up a program called Customer Assistance for Residential Environmental Services, or CARES, to help with 'affordability and equity ' of increased sewer fee rates. Sewer customers who qualify based on household income of less than 80 % area median income will be eligible for a $20 to $25 credit on their monthly base fee. The program will be funded at $10 million per year. Customers will have to apply for the program to prove eligibility and then be re-verified every six months, ENV states. Still, not all were happy with Bill 60's approval. 'Really listen to your constituents because we're going to feel the effects, ' Oahu resident Tara Rojas said with disappointment, during remote public testimony to the Council. 'And this is only sewer (fees ), not even including anything else.'
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Yahoo
Honolulu police warn of surge in online predators
Honolulu police and prosecuting attorneys urge parents to monitor their kids' online activities after 12 sexual assaults of children 17 years old and younger by pedophiles who lured them into physical meetings. The victims, between the ages of 11 and 17, met their abusers on social media, online gaming portals and dating applications during the past four months. Some of the cases involve men trolling young girls on social media sites like Instagram, befriending them, then meeting up, getting them into a car and assaulting them. Other cases involve men going after boys. They are a part of a surge in sexual assaults of minors and sextortion that troubles Honolulu police and prosecutors. 'It can happen in folks' houses, often plying them with alcohol and other drugs, (then ) filming the rape, the sexual interaction and then threatening them with publicizing on social media if they say anything to anyone, ' said Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm. 'The teens are subject to this kind of extortion, and it puts them in a terrible situation. … We're really trying to raise awareness. We're talking every week now, cases are coming into our office.' Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. Sextortion, a crime that lacks a specific federal and state statute, is being aggressively investigated and prosecuted with existing laws and is and across the country, law enforcement and nonprofit organizations have told the Hono lulu Star-Advertiser. In 2023 the National Center for Missing &Exploited Children's Cyber Tipline received 186, 819 reports of online enticement, the category that includes sextortion. For every case that is reported to law enforcement, Alm warned, countless others are not. Speaking to reporters at a news conference in the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney's Richards Street headquarters, Alm said he and Honolulu Police Chief Arthur 'Joe ' Logan were there to 'sound the alarm.' 'We want to issue a stark warning to parents and teenagers about what's happening to your kids on social media. We have predators who are connecting to kids on social media ; they are arranging to meet them in person, and then they are sexually assaulting them, ' said Alm, standing before Logan and teams of their deputies. 'Growing up, parents maybe worried about the park down the street, or they might worry about a playground and watch their kids there. Well, now parents have to do the same thing on social media.' Joining Alm on Thursday was Division Chief Scott Bell ; Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys Ayla Weiss, Thalia Murphy, Melody Kaohu, Chase Sakai ; and Missing Senior Team Captain Rochelle Cusumano. Logan was backed by Assistant Chiefs Calvin Tong and Brian Lynch, Lt. Robert Jones and Detective Jolon Wagner. Prosecutors are trying to charge first-degree sexual assault cases against those who target minors, an offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Logan said HPD has been investigating 'numerous incidents ' where adults are preying upon children by portraying themselves as teenagers. 'Sadly, these activities lead to the exchange of information digitally online, sexual material and even physical sexual assaults, ' said Logan, noting that in the past four months, 12 cases are in 'various stages of investigation ' by police and prosecutors. Weiss said other types of cases involve perpetrators reaching out to minors, particularly teenage boys, and 'enticing them to send images or videos of themselves in the nude or engaging in sexual acts.' The pedophiles ask their victims to engage in video calls naked or doing something sexual in nature. The images, videos or screen shots from the video calls are used to extort the minor so that the images or video are not sent to their families and friends. 'These cases are occurring to minors here in Hawaii. The perpetrators could be located in Hawaii or … other countries where local law enforcement do not have any reach. There have been reports on the mainland of juvenile males committing suicide because they cannot come up with the money to pay the extortionists or they are too afraid to tell their family or to ask for help, ' said Weiss. Logan said sextortion and targeting kids online is an international problem that law enforcement is scrambling to address. Alm reminded parents that their children might hate intense oversight of their online activities, but until they are 18 they do not have a right to hide their phones or online access points from their parents. 'Preying on juveniles, younger people … is very serious, ' said Logan. 'It's unacceptable in our society.'
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Yahoo
Honolulu police warn of surge in online predators
Honolulu police and prosecuting attorneys urge parents to monitor their kids' online activities after 12 sexual assaults of children 17 years old and younger by pedophiles who lured them into physical meetings. The victims, between the ages of 11 and 17, met their abusers on social media, online gaming portals and dating applications during the past four months. Some of the cases involve men trolling young girls on social media sites like Instagram, befriending them, then meeting up, getting them into a car and assaulting them. Other cases involve men going after boys. They are a part of a surge in sexual assaults of minors and sextortion that troubles Honolulu police and prosecutors. 'It can happen in folks' houses, often plying them with alcohol and other drugs, (then ) filming the rape, the sexual interaction and then threatening them with publicizing on social media if they say anything to anyone, ' said Prosecuting Attorney Steve Alm. 'The teens are subject to this kind of extortion, and it puts them in a terrible situation. … We're really trying to raise awareness. We're talking every week now, cases are coming into our office.' Don 't miss out on what 's happening ! Stay in touch with breaking news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It 's FREE ! Email 28141 Sign Up By clicking to sign up, you agree to Star-Advertiser 's and Google 's and. This form is protected by reCAPTCHA. Sextortion, a crime that lacks a specific federal and state statute, is being aggressively investigated and prosecuted with existing laws and is and across the country, law enforcement and nonprofit organizations have told the Hono lulu Star-Advertiser. In 2023 the National Center for Missing &Exploited Children's Cyber Tipline received 186, 819 reports of online enticement, the category that includes sextortion. For every case that is reported to law enforcement, Alm warned, countless others are not. Speaking to reporters at a news conference in the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney's Richards Street headquarters, Alm said he and Honolulu Police Chief Arthur 'Joe ' Logan were there to 'sound the alarm.' 'We want to issue a stark warning to parents and teenagers about what's happening to your kids on social media. We have predators who are connecting to kids on social media ; they are arranging to meet them in person, and then they are sexually assaulting them, ' said Alm, standing before Logan and teams of their deputies. 'Growing up, parents maybe worried about the park down the street, or they might worry about a playground and watch their kids there. Well, now parents have to do the same thing on social media.' Joining Alm on Thursday was Division Chief Scott Bell ; Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys Ayla Weiss, Thalia Murphy, Melody Kaohu, Chase Sakai ; and Missing Senior Team Captain Rochelle Cusumano. Logan was backed by Assistant Chiefs Calvin Tong and Brian Lynch, Lt. Robert Jones and Detective Jolon Wagner. Prosecutors are trying to charge first-degree sexual assault cases against those who target minors, an offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Logan said HPD has been investigating 'numerous incidents ' where adults are preying upon children by portraying themselves as teenagers. 'Sadly, these activities lead to the exchange of information digitally online, sexual material and even physical sexual assaults, ' said Logan, noting that in the past four months, 12 cases are in 'various stages of investigation ' by police and prosecutors. Weiss said other types of cases involve perpetrators reaching out to minors, particularly teenage boys, and 'enticing them to send images or videos of themselves in the nude or engaging in sexual acts.' The pedophiles ask their victims to engage in video calls naked or doing something sexual in nature. The images, videos or screen shots from the video calls are used to extort the minor so that the images or video are not sent to their families and friends. 'These cases are occurring to minors here in Hawaii. The perpetrators could be located in Hawaii or … other countries where local law enforcement do not have any reach. There have been reports on the mainland of juvenile males committing suicide because they cannot come up with the money to pay the extortionists or they are too afraid to tell their family or to ask for help, ' said Weiss. Logan said sextortion and targeting kids online is an international problem that law enforcement is scrambling to address. Alm reminded parents that their children might hate intense oversight of their online activities, but until they are 18 they do not have a right to hide their phones or online access points from their parents. 'Preying on juveniles, younger people … is very serious, ' said Logan. 'It's unacceptable in our society.'
