Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said Wednesday that he will “absolutely” sign the budget measures approved by the Honolulu City Council earlier in the day.

What You Need To Know

  • Blangiardi said the budget "is reflective of our priorities"

  • The Honolulu City Council approved the $3.2 billion dollar executive operating budget on Thursday on an 8-0 vote

  • Blangiardi said the budget addresses staffing shortages in key areas

“I feel like this budget here, which will really be the (Fiscal Year) 23 budget, is a budget that's reflective of what we want to get accomplished,” Blangiardi said. “You know, up until now we've been adjusting and living with prior budgets, doing the best we can. This budget is reflective of our priorities.”

The Honolulu City Council approved the $3.2 billion dollar executive operating budget on Thursday on an 8-0 vote.

Blangiardi noted the complexity of the task and the amount of work that went into producing the version of the budget that he passed to the Council.

“It’s an enormous process because it represents more than $4 billion between our operating and our capital (budgets),” he said. “And so when you get involved at that level, when you have now currently about 8,600 employees in 26 different departments, it really is a very complicated scenario.

“And so to put all that together in a cohesive way, because we have to balance the budget as well, up against the resources available, is not an easy undertaking,” he continued. “A lot of people in town don't have $4-plus billion dollar budgets, and so they can imagine the complexity of that. I'm very grateful they were able to make this work out. And I say it again, I'm very grateful to have unanimous support for the second year in a row by the City Council. That speaks volumes to me about the quality of work that's been done and the quality of our plans going forward.”

The mayor said he was particularly happy that the budget addresses significant staffing shortages in key areas, including five departments with a collective 2,000 vacancies.

“We need those people to help fulfill what people expect us to do in the work that we do,” he said. “One of those is the police department. That said, I think we've made some great moves on staffing as far as budgeting and really looking to streamline and not make it as difficult for people to get hired by the city. I'm excited about that and what's to come of it.”