LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i County Council in May approved — and funded — dozens of county job positions which have yet to be filled, Council Chair Jay Furfaro said Monday. As a result, millions of dollars which could be circulating
LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i County Council in May approved — and funded — dozens of county job positions which have yet to be filled, Council Chair Jay Furfaro said Monday.
As a result, millions of dollars which could be circulating in the local economy are sitting in county coffers and adding to a budget surplus, he said at the county’s Cost Control Commission meeting.
“We have 44 vacancies in the positions that we approved in the budget for the county, plus (31) additional vacancies in the police department,” Furfaro said.
All positions combined represent about $3.4 million in funds that have not been used by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr.’s administration, Furfaro said.
“I’m not so concerned with the amounts identified with the police department, because until they fill those vacancies we have kept their overtime line pretty compressed, so they have to go to this allocated amount,” he said.
The 44 county (non-police) vacancies represent some $1.9 million in unused funds, Furfaro said. “It’s too much.”
Furfaro said he is also concerned with the process in which the administration can use those funds allocated for the positions outside the Kaua‘i Police Department posts.
He said there needs to be stronger control mechanisms because the administration can now use a vacancy, re-code the position and staff a new position which was not approved in the budget.
“This is an ongoing dilemma,” Furfaro said.
Despite this being the smallest number of vacancies he has seen in years, “it is part of the problem of being able to end with a surplus at the end of the year, which we are now going to put into a reserve policy,” Furfaro said.
The county’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, released Dec. 15, shows the administration ended fiscal ear 2011 with a $51.36 million surplus.
But after allocating money to other funds, debt service and a $23 million reserve provision, the surplus became a $2.64 million shortfall, according to a presentation by Furfaro in mid-December.
The reserve fund approved last year by the council during the budget review sessions was passed through a resolution, which created the fund as a policy only.
Furfaro said that with uncertainties in the environment and a threat of losing the county’s share of the Transient Accommodation Tax (approximately $13.4 million annually), it is “extremely important” that the county has a reserve fund.
“We haven’t passed an ordinance yet. We certainly would like your comments,” he told commissioners.
Councilman Tim Bynum said Monday he agrees the county should have a reserve fund, but he disputes the shortfall, saying that over the last 10 years the county has consistently ended each fiscal year with at least $16 million in unused funds.
Fiscal 2010, which ran from July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010, ended with an even higher surplus: $68 million, according to the county’s financial report.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
