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Excerpt from an email I just got:
.
..
I have just learned that the Hawaii County Band, a 127-year-old institution on the Big Island, has been singled out for elimination in the county budget, expected to be unveiled on Monday. The news was announced tonight to stunned musicians and volunteers by Bob Fitzgerald and Clayton Honma, director and deputy director of the county parks department.
More here:
http://www.hawaiiweblog.com/2010/02/25/h...ping-block
.... Perhaps if we deluge the Mayor's office and our County Supervisors with protests, we can turn this around.
David
Ninole Resident
Ninole Resident
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I haven't seen any indication yet that Mayor Kenoi will rein in the sloppy spending and mismanagement of the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP), consultants and vendors. That over spending seems to be unabated. The legislative Auditor has been showing, in report after report, how poorly managed the departments are.
The one case where a drywell pumping contract elicited a complaint and the bid request was re-written to allow more competition an immediate savings of $1 million was achieved. You would think that a light bulb might go off over the heads of finance. Take a look at the heavily gamed procurement process? Nope.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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How many counties have a band? The concept is totally new to me!
Puna: Our roosters crow first
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The County needs to get on to the business of running itself in a proper manner which is to provide essential services. The band should be supported by donations and private funding. It does not matter that it was erroneously funded by taxpayers in years past. The County could make that argument on every wasteful bit of spending and never fix it itself.
edit: I just saw that the amount being spent for this band is $360,000 a year!
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and the county sits on an asset base that would boggle everyones mind. I know bob orts likes them to sit on a fat pile of cash, but i dont.
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Spending tax money on a band or to subsidize golf for the west side when essential service are at risk is Absurd .
whats that line “ as the band played on “
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well go one step further, TAKING tax money under threat of property foreclosure is also absurd. government is just men and women offering service at the barrel of a gun.
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So many anarchists in Hawaii and America today. It's a shame, really. The very idea of a government for the people and by the people appears to be perishing from the earth. That power vaccum will be replaced by corporations which will, figuratively, knock you off your land and have you working on a pineapple plantation before you can turn around to spit.
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How about the County of Hawaii fund all non-profits and community organization to the level those organizations AND THE PEOPLE want, and use whatever happens to be left over for all other services. If the Police don't have enough funding to deal with crime, that's secondary to having your music. If the Fire Dept can't respond to a house fire, at least you got your art fix.
Balance. In tough times, tough decisions have to be made.
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My problem is that CoH is not yet making the tough decisions - i.e. controlling procurement spending. CoH has been taking and making all the easy pickings such as partial pruning of funded vacant positions; 2% Land Preservation Fund, County Band. What is not yet happening is the county administration actually reading their own audit reports which are consistently saying they fail to manage department accounts and dedicated funds with a degree of efficiency or common standards.
I have publicly been wondering for some time just how, over the past ten years, the CoH budget has increased 120% while the population has increased approx. 20%. Meanwhile they spend $550 psf on a remodel of county offices, they fail to collect $100 million in Fair Share Funds, They spend $4.5 million to resurface the county parking lot, they sell a bulldozer for $50,000 and rent it back for $1 million.
The CoH has developed a habit of flushing millions of dollars annually downstream to vendors and contractors (all campaign contributors) and use the threat of curtailing public services to acquire dedicated funds. The heavy lifting of controlling costs has not yet occurred. Attempts to meet with Mayor Kenoi and discuss these things are ignored.
It is my proposition that the CoH is operating on a level of mismanagement that has the strong appearance of corruption.
Assume the best and ask questions.
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