LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Kaua'i Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. yesterday said he won't seek higher property taxes, county worker layoffs or program cuts to balance the $154 million county budget.

Carvalho's proposed 2010 budget is 2.5 percent lower than this year's, despite the fact that "before we even started ... we were nearly $10 million behind," he told the Kaua'i County Council and the public in his first State of the County address.

Kaua'i County expects its revenue for the coming fiscal year to decline by $6.3 million, while its fixed costs will be $3.5 million higher, he said.

Carvalho called for "sacrifice in these times of scarcity," but pledged that county workers would be "flexible and responding to the needs of the public with aloha."

To that end, Carvalho said all service workers will undergo customer service training by the end of April at Kaua'i Community College.

In addition, user-friendly computer kiosks for payments and online services will be in operation by the end of 2009 at the Kilauea, Kapa'a and Kalaheo neighborhood centers, plus at the main county building in Lihu'e, he said, at a cost of $20,000.

Carvalho noted that certain belt-tightening measures he began following his election in December will continue, including a freeze on hiring, except for essential positions; no raises for the mayor and department heads; cutting travel budgets in half; and trimming the number of county-subsidized take-home vehicles and cell phones.

Despite planning a tight budget, Carvalho also listed a number of spending initiatives, including: