Honolulu’s work force grew 5 percent during Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s tenure, but the total spent on salaries ballooned 32 percent, according to an analysis by Civil Beat.

Hannemann prepared six budgets as mayor, starting with the plan for the 2006 fiscal year that began July 1, 2005. He took over from former Mayor Jeremy Harris in Janurary 2005. By the time he had resigned to run for governor on July 20 of this year, Hannemann had added 512 full-time municipal positions and increased spending on salaries from $507 million in fiscal year 2005 to $671 million this fiscal year, a 32 percent increase.

This growth occurred during the worst recession since the Great Depression and at a time of very low inflation.

Not surprisingly, given what happened with salaries, the operating budget increased under Hannemann’s leadership as well. It grew 38 percent, from $869 million to about $1.2 billion. Yet the percentage of the budget devoted to paying salaries is actually slightly down, from 58 percent of the operating budget under Harris in 2005 to 56 percent in the 2011 fiscal year, which began on July 1.

Hannemann’s first budget as mayor was the 2006 budget. His last was the 2011 budget. The chart below shows employment growth, growth in salaries and the change in salaries as a percentage of total operating budget.

City and County of Honolulu

*All figures are for the appropriated budget except for 2011, which reflects the proposed budget.

A deeper look into seven years of city budgets shows exactly where the city has grown and which divisions have gotten the biggest salary boosts.

Civil Beat found:

• The General Government division grew by 6.6 percent, with salaries up 19 percent, even after an 11 percent cut this year.
• The Public Safety work force increased 3.4 percent since Hannemann became mayor, while monies for public-safety salaries jumped 36 percent.
• Highways and Streets staffing remained flat, but salaries jumped 39 percent — despite a decrease of 8 percent this fiscal year.
• Sanitation staffing grew 4 percent, while salaries soared 35 percent.
• Human Services staffing grew 15 percent, with salaries going up 20 percent.
• Culture and Recreation grew 2 percent, with salaries going up 23 percent.
• The Department of Transportation grew 220 percent, with salaries up 36 percent. (The reason for the disparity is that the department has a low employee count with a high salary count, because the 1,850 employees of TheBus paid from the salary pool aren’t included in the work force number.)

One strange twist about the city’s budget under Hannemann is that it includes vacant but funded positions. This fiscal year, the city is setting aside $38 million for about 1,000 unfilled positions. These are still part of the budget, and contribute to the size of the increase both in the number of employees and the growth in total spending on salaries, but it’s unlikely the money will be spent this fiscal year.

The city explains the decision to keep these positions in the budget as a way to give the administration leeway with hiring, without having to go through a more time-consuming process with the City Council. Officials also say that having vacant funded positions is a way to keep bond ratings solid because when positions are funded but not filled by the end of the fiscal year, the funds allocated for them are carried over to the next fiscal year. Critics of this approach argue it’s a financial safety net that unfairly burdens taxpayers.

Not including the $38.8 million the city allocated for funding vacant positions this fiscal year, the current budget approves $632 million for salaries. Compared to the budget Hannemann inherited his first year in office, that’s a 25 percent increase in spending on salaries.

This kind of examination into the previous administration’s budgetary decisions with regard to its work force is timely not just during a critical election season, but as thousands of city workers are coping with pay cuts and mandated twice-monthly furlough days. Hannemann, along with the rest of the city’s non-union executive staff, took a voluntary pay cut at the start of the 2010 fiscal year.

General Government

General Government positions include the mayor and his top administrators, as well as the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services, the Liquor Commission, legal counsel and customer service workers like permitting and licensing employees.

The division grew 6.6 percent since Hannemann took office. Even with a cut in total salaries of 12 percent this year, the division’s salaries grew 19 percent over the course of Hannemann’s tenure. This fiscal year, $8 million is allocated to fund vacant positions in the General Government sector alone.

General Government Division
General Government

Public Safety

When the city outlined its furlough plan earlier this year, Hannemann repeatedly emphasized the importance of keeping Honolulu’s public safety sector intact. Thousands of the city’s public-safety workers who are union members took pay cuts of about 5 percent instead of taking furlough days.

Public safety salaries are still up nearly $9 million this year compared to last. The majority of that increase stems from monies allocated for security in conjunction with November’s Asia-Pacifc Economic Cooperation, a global forum that will bring leaders from nearly two dozen Pacific Rim countries to Honolulu. On a state level, officials applied for a special “national security event” status, which would allow for reimbursement for APEC-related expenses on the city and state level.

Municipal spending on public safety has gone up consistently since Hannemann took office. The work force itself increased 3.4 percent, while monies for public-safety salaries jumped 36 percent.

The $325 million allocated to pay the city’s public safety workers represents about half of the city’s salary budget, while public safety workers make up 44 percent of the municipal work force. That $325 million also includes $9.5 million for vacant funded positions in the police, fire, emergency services and medical examiner departments.

Public Safety

Highways and Streets

Workers for the city’s Department of Facility Maintenance handle upkeep of Honolulu roadways. The size of the work force fluctuated slightly under Hannemann’s leadership. This fiscal year, it’s essentially the same size as it was during Hannemann’s first year as mayor. Salaries have jumped 39 percent over that time — despite a decrease of 8 percent this fiscal year compared to last year. The division also has more than $3 million set aside to fund vacant positions this fiscal year. Still, as a percentage of salaries for the entire city work force, the millions that go to hundreds of road workers is minuscule: less than 3 percent.

Highways and Streets

Sanitation

One of the biggest challenges Hannemann faced when he took office in 2005 was what to do about the city’s aging and failing sewer infrastructure. Not surprisingly, sanitation became one of the areas of city government that saw the most growth under Hannemann’s leadership. The work force grew by 4 percent, while salaries jumped 35 percent.

This year, more than $56 million is allocated to pay 1,175 sanitation workers. That includes more than $5 million for vacant funded positions. More growth is in store for the division, which is set to be restructured under a consent decree that the City Council approved last month. The agreement will also require billions in spending on upgrades and new construction of the city’s sewers and sewage infrastructure over the next quarter-century.

Sanitation

Human Services

Honolulu’s human services work force remains the city’s smallest, although it grew 15 percent under Hannemann’s leadership. The division, which employs people in community development, job development and elderly services, saw salaries increase about 20 percent. More than a third of the $9.7 million budgeted for salaries for the division’s 254 employees, is reserved for vacant funded positions.

Human Services

Culture and Recreation

Possible cuts to the city’s Culture and Recreation division are perennially brought to the table during city budget debates. Every year, community members testify against those cuts on behalf of the division’s Royal Hawaiian Band and parks and recreation services. Hannemann and City Council members said they were pleased to be able to maintain the division’s services in the face of enormous economic pressure this fiscal year. The budget includes more than $49 million to pay the 1,530-employee Culture and Recreation work force, which has grown 2 percent since Hannemann took office. The amount allocated for Culture and Recreation salaries has increased 23 percent. The $49 million includes $3.7 million for vacant funded positions.

Culture and Recreation

Mass Transit

Not surprisingly, the hallmark project of Hannemann’s tenure has also generated the biggest rate of growth in the city’s work force. The Department of Transportation Services and other transportation planning and mass transit positions fall under the umbrella of “utilities and other enterprises.” The division grew its work force a whopping 220 percent over the course of Hannemann’s tenure. Salaries went up 36 percent in that time.

It’s important to note that the 163-person mass transit work force is just a part of this division, with more than $116 million in salaries. The bulk of that money goes to employees of TheBus. The private, nonprofit Oahu Transit Services manages them, pays them and keeps the tally of workers. Kaina Awaa, manager of personnel services for TheBus, says its 1,850 employees have stayed constant since before Hannemann took office: “We have a total of 1,850 in fiscal year 2011 and there’s been really very little change to that number. Since 2006, I know it hasn’t changed a whole lot.”

Utilities and other enterprises