OHA budget realignment approved; $1,103,000 carryover set aside for Maui wildfire Kanaʻaʻaho grants

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs Committee on Budget and Finance voted to approve the fourth and final budget realignment for the fiscal biennium 2023–24 and 2024–25 and to carry forward $1,103,000 in unspent, uncommitted, unencumbered funds from the BOT 23‑07 Maui Island Wildfire award to continue Kanaʻaʻaho disaster grant distributions to beneficiaries in Lahaina and Kula.

Administrators said the realignment (action item BF25‑52) is a routine year‑end reconciliation to align OHA’s books with actual expenditures through June 30, 2025. Ryan Lee, Investment Director and interim chief financial officer, and financial analyst Grace Chen presented tables showing adjustments across the spending limit, total operating budget and core operating budgets. They told trustees the $1.103 million carryover represents unspent funds from the wildfire award that remain available for direct disaster assistance to eligible residents.

The realignment updates include: increases to the core operating budget tied to newly awarded grants and approved carryovers; adjustments to commercial property budgets (including amounts related to four properties identified by administration); and federal grant budget changes for select items. Administration explained one commercial property, Sumner Street, required additional principal repayment to satisfy a loan covenant because a vacancy caused a shortfall in net operating income. Trustees were told that the repayment reduces outstanding principal and thereby protects the portfolio’s loan covenants.

On the wildfire carryover, Grants Manager Chantelle Belay and program staff explained that Kanaʻaʻaho I application windows remain open until July 31 and that staff expect roughly $200,000 more in processed awards before final reconciliation. Based on current projections and outstanding applications, staff estimated the final unspent carryover to land near $900,000–$1,100,000; trustees were told the administration plans a second tranche to existing Kanaʻaʻaho I recipients (homeowners and renters) rather than a new statewide application round. Administration described a presumptive split that follows the original distribution ratio (homeowners received $9,000 initially; renters $4,000), with a second, smaller tranche to be pro‑rated against the remaining balance and the number of recipients in each category. Staff said they expect reconciliations to conclude in August, disbursements to begin in September and to be completed by December 31, with a report back to trustees in January or February.

Trustees asked for and received clarifications about the scope and timing of carryover spending. One trustee pressed whether the wildfire funds could be opened to any Hawaiʻi resident; administration replied the original BOT 23‑07 award was made specifically for Lahaina and Kula residents affected by the fires, and that separate statewide disaster aid funding contained elsewhere in the biennium budget will be brought forward as a separate action item.

After trustee discussion closed, a trustee moved approval of the realignment and the Kanaʻaʻaho carryover. The committee called the question and the motion was adopted. Minutes record the motion as adopted; the transcript does not specify a formal roll‑call tally for this item in the public record.

Administration said it will include the detailed line‑item reconciliations and the final Kanaʻaʻaho disbursement plan in upcoming quarterly reports and in the July 31 quarterly budget reconciliation package.

Because this item makes accounting adjustments and continues a previously approved wildfire grant program, trustees were careful to separate the bookkeeping realignment from programmatic decisions: the motion authorized carryover of the specific unspent funds for continued distribution through the Kanaʻaʻaho program and did not change eligibility criteria or create a new program.

The committee moved to the next agenda items after adopting the realignment.