WAILUKU, Maui — Council Budget Chairman Joe Pontanilla proposed eliminating fee hikes for golf and garbage-collection services, in his proposal for the fiscal year 2008-09 county budget, The Maui News reported. Pontanilla made his proposal Monday as the Budget and Finance Committee launched its final week of decision-making on the county's annual spending plan. His plan would maintain most of Mayor Charmaine Tavares' funding requests but would cut $1 million proposed toward a new Emergency Management Center in Waikapu, saying the council needs to know more about the project.

Pontanilla said the council should try to be sensitive to the economic hardships facing working families.

"We must strike the best balance we can between minimizing the tax burden on residents and maintaining the viability of the county's infrastructure," he said Monday.

The budget committee is expected to finalize its decisions by the end of the week. The Maui County Council has until the end of May to pass a budget, which will go into effect July 1.

While past councils have cut into mayoral budget proposals with a hatchet, this year's adjustments seem to have been made with a scalpel. Pontanilla has proposed maintaining Tavares' plan to keep property tax rates at current levels, and called her proposal for incremental increases in water and sewer rates "both fiscally and environmentally responsible."

But Pontanilla said the council should not support Tavares' request to increase refuse-collection fees from $12 to $16 per month, or her call to increase greens fees and eliminate lower weekend and "twilight" rates at the county's Waiehu Golf Course.

Golfers have responded angrily to the proposal, calling attention to shabby conditions at the course. At the same time, a debate is under way about whether the golf course should be self-supporting or should be subsidized by taxpayers like any other county park. The council is expected to request a review by the PGA of the operation.

"Before any increase or restructuring of golf fees can be supported, the council needs to resolve these issues," Pontanilla said.

He also said he would not support raising trash-collection fees until the county releases its Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, which is expected to be completed later this year.

"I believe we need to have a clear understanding of the long-term plans for addressing the county's solid-waste requirements before imposing a substantial increase in residential-refuse-collection fees," he said.

Council members on Monday began homing in on parts of the budget expected to need more debate. Council Member Riki Hokama said he would propose increasing the minimum property tax from $60 to $120, saying the current level doesn't even cover the cost of processing.

He also said he was skeptical of revenue estimates of $21.9 million from the transient-accommodations tax and $20 million from the fuel and franchise taxes, saying the rising cost of airfare and gasoline likely would cause people to cut back on their spending, potentially reducing tax revenues. He said the county should lower its estimates.

"I would hate for us to be too optimistic and then fall short of our mark," he said.

Other key changes in Pontanilla's budget include the addition of $250,000 for a Lahaina fire tanker, and an appropriation of $250,000 to the Maui Family YMCA capital campaign. It would also cut $100,000 for Maui County Fair site development; eliminate $2 million for construction of a gulch crossing at the Central Maui Landfill (sanitation officials said they would not need the money until 2010); and reduce the budget for the Haiku Fire Station from $1 million to $600,000, after fire officials said they would not need the money until next year and the reduction would not affect the project.

The committee is expected to continue its budget review at 9 a.m. today.

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