Committee advances FY26 budget on first reading; restores planning and East Maui positions, rejects council pay boost

The Budget, Finance & Economic Development Committee for Maui County recommended first-reading approval of the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget and related bills on a series of votes during its April recess meeting, advancing the measures to the full council while making several line-item restorations and rejecting a proposal to add $40,000 to each council member’s office budget.

Committee members said staff will place the charter-required transfer to the county’s open-space fund and split remaining general-fund balances between the emergency fund and the county’s post-employment benefits account before the budget goes to the full council.

The committee’s action moves forward the county’s FY26 ordinance and related capital and bond bills while directing specific restorations: it approved restoring funding for expansion positions in the Department of Planning and in the East Maui Water Authority, approved reallocating a $10,000 appropriation formerly for Maui Taiko to a broader category of cultural and environmental programs, and rejected a measure to increase each council member’s office budget by $40,000.

Why it matters: The committee’s votes set the text the full council will consider on first reading, clarify how one-time balances will be allocated and preserve targeted staffing restorations the budget director requested. The decisions also resolved several operating and capital descriptions and approved a fuel-tax resolution that takes effect July 1, 2025.

The meeting began with staff reporting that the committee has produced a balanced budget but that a few technical adjustments remain. Committee staff said they will transfer the charter-required 1% of real-property tax revenue to the open-space fund — approximately $192,610 — and split the remaining general-fund balance equally between an emergency fund transfer and post-employment benefits. Staff estimated the two splits at about $1,800,090 each after current calculations. Staff also noted that fringe calculations use percentages and rounding adjustments may be necessary to keep the budget balanced.

Committee members asked for a project description to include in Appendix C for the Molokai District Police Facility; Council Member Rollins Fernandez provided a description as “planning, design, permitting, and construction of the Molokai District Police Facility.” Staff said no additional motion was required to record that project description in the budget appendix.

During the meeting the panel considered several specific motions and votes:

- Referral of bill 54 (a proposal relating to community workforce agreements) to the great committee was approved by voice vote and recorded as 9 ayes; the committee directed that legal review (an RFLS) be requested before the measure is considered further.

- A proposal to remove a $10,000 line-item for Maui Taiko and reinsert the $10,000 under a general “cultural and environmental programs” category passed unanimously (9 ayes).

- A motion to add $40,000 to each council member’s individual office accounts (a $360,000 total change) failed on roll call, 3 ayes and 6 no votes.

- The committee restored funding for expansion positions in the Department of Planning by approving a motion to add $125,000 to the planning A budget plus associated fringe and cutting $250,000 from budget category B; staff calculated that $125,000 in salary plus $117,475 in fringe would total $242,475 (within the $250,000 operating reduction planning offered). The motion passed (recorded as 9 ayes).

- The committee restored $18,376 in salaries plus associated fringe for an East Maui Water Authority expansion position and cut $32,050 from the operating (B) budget, a net general-fund reduction the member sponsoring the restoration described as $13,674 before fringe; the motion passed (9 ayes).

- The committee voted to recommend passage on first reading of the main FY26 budget ordinance and related bills — identified in committee as Bill 41, Bill 42 (2025 capital program), Bill 43 (bond authorization), Bill 44 (lapse bond), Bill 45 (intergovernmental loan agreement for water-pollution-related projects), and Bill 46 — incorporating the changes the committee approved; the motion passed by voice vote (9 ayes).

- The committee adopted Resolution 2583, the fuel-tax rates for Maui County, effective July 1, 2025. The recorded vote on the fuel-tax resolution was 8 ayes with 1 excused member.

Members debated a separate, earlier set of pay discussions for Office of Council Services positions and whether step increases and across-the-board percentages had been applied in prior motions; that discussion clarified how steps and across-the-board increases differ and that the director has limited authority to move employees between steps, but no new separate action on that subject was recorded in this meeting.

Committee staff told members that more technical recalculations (fringe and any rounding) will be performed and that the committee’s motions and non-substantive edits would be consolidated in the CDs before the items go to the full council.

What’s next: The committee forwarded the recommended first-reading drafts and said staff will finalize technical corrections — including the open-space transfer and fringe rounding — before the full council takes up first reading and subsequent readings as scheduled.