Council committee advances multi‑year sewer rate plan after lengthy debate over consent decree, rebates and bond financing

The Honolulu City Council Committee on Budget on Wednesday reported out an amended version of Bill 60 (CD2), a multi‑year package of sewer fee changes the administration says are needed to fund operation, maintenance and a $6.5 billion capital improvement program for wastewater infrastructure.

The committee advanced an amended draft of the bill after hearing a multi‑hour presentation from Department of Environmental Services Director Roger Babcock and extensive questioning from council members and public testifiers. The committee debated how quickly to phase in increases, how to allocate revenue between a fixed base charge and a volumetric charge, the size and targeting of a proposed customer rebate, and whether integrated planning could reduce the overall capital need.

Why it matters: The sewer fund must be self‑sustaining, department staff told the committee; bond covenants evaluated by rating agencies require predictable revenue to support debt service. The bill would shift the single‑family allocation of charges from approximately a 70/30 split (base/volumetric) to roughly a 40/60 split over the plan period and would raise revenue through annual percentage increases the administration modeled over a 10‑year period. Council members sought shorter periods (five to seven years) and a larger role for targeted rebates and resilience funding to limit impacts on low‑volume or low‑income households.

Key details from the presentation and discussion

- Structure: Director Babcock described the department’s package…