Only Honolulu’s Harris has leased wheels Kaua’i County Mayor Maryanne Kusaka may eventually get her $3.750 annual car allowance back. But for now, she’s driving her own vehicle when on official business. And however that feels to her, it wouldn’t
Only Honolulu’s Harris has leased wheels
Kaua’i County Mayor Maryanne Kusaka may eventually get her $3.750 annual car allowance back.
But for now, she’s driving her own vehicle when on official business. And however that feels to her, it wouldn’t be an unfamiliar feeling for Maui’s third-year mayor, James “Kimo” Apana.
For work, Apana drives one of his two family cars, either a late-model Lincoln or his wife’s almost-new Ford Explorer: The Lincoln when he has guests to show around the island, the Explorer when he has things to carry, according to his office.
Apana, 39, does not have a car allowance from Maui County. His staffers say he files for mileage reimbursements, which average slightly more than $100 per month.
Harry Kim, Big Island’s 61-year-old first-term mayor, drives a county-owned car, an unmarked Ford Taurus with county license plates. The county fuels and maintains the car like the rest of the vehicles in its fleet.
“The previous mayor, Stephen Yamashiro, drove his personal vehicle and received an allowance of $350 per month, plus gas,” managing director Dixie Kaetsu said.
Kaetsu laughed when asked if Kim indulged himself in a lot of perkish behavior.
“Oh, goodness no. He gets lots of invitations some people might consider perks. But he doesn’t accept any of them. He doesn’t even play golf. He just goes home to his family,” Kaetsu said of Kim.
Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris’ official vehicle is leased from an Oahu auto dealer.
“He drives a built-in-America, 2000 Hyundai, and the gas is provided by the city. We have our own pumps,” said Carol Costa, spokeswoman for Harris, who is running for governor.
Meanwhile, Kusaka has returned the 2001 model Chrysler sedan the county leased for her earlier this year.
Kusaka, in announcing the car’s return, also told the County Council last Thursday that she will pay King Auto Center out of her own pocketbook the $2,606.56 in fees for breaking the lease.
The lease for the car was taken care of in one $15,000 payment.
Critics have claimed laws were broken in the way the vehicle was acquired.
The lease was a one-year arrangement, and since the County Council only has oversight of multi-year contracts, the deal was made without council approval. But the issue went before the council when it was realized that liability on the vehicle would stretch into the second (and last) year of the lease.
Kusaka, who said she had requested a legal opinion from the county attorney’s office before the lease was accomplished, said she now considers the case closed.
One of her most persistent critics, Councilman Gary Hooser of Kapa’a, agreed this week that “the issue is closed. But there are remnant issues that need to be cleaned up and clarified.”
One of the issues, according to Hooser, is the method for reinstating Kusaka’s $3,700 annual auto allowance, which was left out of the new county budget because at the time she was driving the leased vehicle.
“We’re waiting for the administration” on that, Hooser said. “The ball is in their court. They have to request (the council to reinstate) her auto allowance or request a new car lease.”
“We haven’t really discussed that yet,” said Kusaka’s top assistant, Wally Rezentes Sr. “The administration can propose a bill. We would need a source of funding and we would have to deal with the problem of certification of funds at this point.”
The Council last Thursday unanimously approved Kusaka’s offer to pay the lease-breaking fees from her personal funds.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
