Finance presents county debt summary: $561 million outstanding, staff to review older authorizations

The Committee on Finance received its supplemental summary of bonded indebtedness and pressed staff on how older bond authorizations will be treated going forward.

Finance staff (self-identified in the transcript as Diane/Diana Nakagawa) and County Treasurer Chris Nakano presented the required summary under Chapter 47C of the Hawaii Revised Statutes. Finance said the county's total debt outstanding and unpaid is "561 plus million dollars," with net funded debt after exclusions of approximately $534,000,000. Staff reported the county's general-fund debt equals 8.84% of general-fund expenditures; if all authorized-but-unissued authorizations were counted, that figure would be about 14.05%.

Councilmember Campbell asked for a walk-through of the schedules showing principal outstanding and maturity. Finance said most general-obligation bonds carry 20-year schedules (with wastewater bonds at 25 years) and offered to bring more detailed schedule breakdowns if the council wanted them. Finance also discussed the Iki Place improvement-district issuance and said a notice to proceed was expected shortly for that project.

Members asked whether Department of Water Supply obligations were included in the percentages; staff answered those obligations are excluded from the percentages presented. Finance said staff is reviewing older authorizations issued back to 2008 to determine whether any authorized amounts should be reduced because projects are complete or no longer viable; freeing unused authorization could narrow the gap between authorized and issued totals. Staff projected the next bond issuance in calendar 2027 (early to mid year) under current spend projections.

Councilmember Kuperowitz pressed for clear criteria for cleaning up authorizations and asked that bond updates preserve funds for previously authorized alternate emergency roads in Puna (a roughly $10 million carve-out in an earlier ordinance). Finance agreed to further internal review and to present more detailed schedules on request.