Mayor Mufi Hannemann yesterday said he absolutely opposes halting the collection of Honolulu's gasoline taxes but thinks Gov. Linda Lingle should consider suspending the state excise tax on gasoline.

"The governor should look very seriously at doing something to provide an opportunity for relief of high gas prices," Hannemann said.

The county's 16.5 cent tax on every gallon of gasoline sold remains the same no matter what the price of gasoline, Hannemann said. But the state general excise tax is based on a percentage of each gasoline sale, Hannemann said, so the state is getting a "windfall" of income as gasoline prices have risen sharply in the past month.

On Wednesday, Lingle and other Republicans said gasoline prices could be reduced by eliminating or temporarily suspending the general excise tax on gasoline.

Lingle spokesman Russell Pang yesterday said, "The governor earlier this week said that she was looking into the possibility of some tax relief at the general excise tax level relating to gasoline. We're still looking into that right now."

On Maui, Mayor Alan Arakawa on Wednesday proposed suspending his county's 18-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax for two months, which would cost Maui $2.1 million in revenue. The issue could go before the Maui County Council early next week.

The next day, Honolulu Councilman Charles Djou (Waikiki, East Honolulu) said he planned to introduce a measure to temporarily suspend the city's gasoline tax.

But Hannemann said, "That's not something my administration can support."

The city's gas tax generates $4 million to $5 million a month. A six-month moratorium could cost the city more than $26 million, Hannemann said.

"I don't have a clue where we would find funds to make that up," he said. "Councilman Djou needs to think these things through better before he goes for the headlines and sensationalism.

"We balanced the budget on that gasoline tax, and it's very important to our efforts to improve bus service and continue to repair potholes. We need revenue, and a suspension would take the budget out of balance. Everything we're doing could be put in jeopardy if we suspend the tax."

The city also is faced with an additional $5 million to $10 million in fuel costs this year that have not been budgeted for, Hannemann said. That shortfall comes on top of the 2 percent to 2.5 percent cuts that Hannemann recently asked most city departments to make in their budgets.

Hannemann also said he's not yet ready to say that Hawai'i's first-in-the-nation gas cap, which went into effect Sept. 1, should be suspended.

"But it's something that should be looked at seriously," Hannemann said. "The gas cap is something that the state started and I'll leave it to the state to deal with. But people want to know how the state will deal with rising gasoline prices."

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com and Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.