Environmental Services pitches $1.32 billion FY26 budget as landfill siting, sewer fee increase draw council scrutiny

Roger Babcock, director designate of the Department of Environmental Services, told the Honolulu City Council Committee on Budget that the department’s FY26 request totals about $1.32 billion, including $537.9 million in operations, $249.5 million in debt service and $533.7 million for capital projects. He said the dollar figures reflect debt refinancing savings and an administrative decision to move engineering salaries from capital into operations.

The budget hearing focused on two high-profile, interlocking issues: identifying a site for a new municipal landfill and financing long-term wastewater projects. Babcock said the administration met the first statutory deadline to identify potential landfill sites and noted that a second deadline — to close Waimānalo Gulch Landfill to incoming waste by 2028 — is unlikely to be met given the lead time to open a new facility.

Why it matters: The landfill timeline, decisions about candidate sites and potential state-level changes to Act 73 that affect buffer zones will influence whether the city needs the $77 million placeholder included in FY26 for land acquisition and how soon a new disposal facility could be operational. Separately, the sewer capital plan and a proposed multi-year sewer-rate package would affect household bills and the schedule for major treatment-plant upgrades tied to federal and state regulatory requirements.

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