WAILUKU, Maui — County officials are proposing measures to ease the financial suffering of motorists who are forking over nearly $4 per gallon for regular unleaded.

Mayor Alan Arakawa yesterday proposed his own "tax holiday" that would suspend the county's 18-cent-per-gallon gasoline tax for two months, at an estimated cost of $2.1 million in county revenue.

The lost income likely would be covered by projected windfalls in real property tax and transient accommodation tax revenues, he said.

Arakawa plans to send a budget amendment proposal for the tax holiday to the Maui County Council early next week.

Gas prices at many Central Maui stations jumped this week from $3.519 a gallon to $3.969 for the cheapest unleaded.

Arakawa said two months should be long enough for the nation's gasoline supplies to stabilize or for Hawai'i's gas-price cap to prove either a success at limiting prices or a failure that the state Legislature needs to repeal.

Arakawa identified the availability of $5.1 million in county money set aside in a "rainy day" fund that could be tapped should tax revenues fall short of expectations.

Meanwhile, Councilman Dain Kane is calling for improvements to the county's fledgling public transit system to make it more attractive to commuters who'd like to save gas.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.