MEDIA RELEASE

County of Hawai’i Mayor Billy Kenoi today announced his administration has reduced the size of the county workforce by a net 77 employees through restricted hiring and attrition to cut personnel costs during his first year in office.

The County Department of Human Resources also projects the number of “warm bodies” holding county jobs will decline by another 21 through retirements at the end of this month, Mayor Kenoi said. However, some of those retiring employees will be replaced in the months ahead because they are key personnel.

Mayor Kenoi’s first budget also de-funded 55 vacant positions, the largest de-funding of vacancies in County history. De-funding vacancies means those positions cannot be filled.

“We have asked all of our County workers to do more with less this year, and I want to take this opportunity to thank County employees for their hard work under difficult circumstances,” Mayor Kenoi said. “When we sharply restricted hiring, we caused the workload to increase for many public workers. We have to work harder and smarter.”

Mayor Kenoi announced hiring restrictions the day he took office, and has required that all requests to fill any positions in County departments be vetted by an Expenditure Review Committee that decides if the position is needed to protect public safety, or to continue delivery of essential County services.

The Mayor has submitted to the County Council a listing of positions filled by his administration during his first year in office. That listing shows 54 employees were hired for public safety positions including the police and fire departments; 11 were hired to operate or maintain essential infrastructure such sewer or water systems; 20 were hired to provide essential public services, such as solid waste transfer station attendants and drivers’ license examiners; 20 were hired to provide essential County support roles or for positions that generate revenue for the County, such as water meter readers; and 36 were hired with federal or state funding, meaning they provide services within the County of Hawai’i at little or no cost to the County.

The overall number of employees working for the County has been shrinking because more County workers retired or left their jobs for other reasons than were hired. The net effect is that County employment has been reduced.

“My administration has carefully reduced the number of County workers by limiting hiring in a responsible way that saves the taxpayer’s money, but protects essential public services,” Mayor Kenoi said. “We have used our hiring restrictions wisely to prevent disruptions in essential services, and we need to continue this successful strategy.”

Mayor Kenoi has imposed furloughs on appointees in the Mayor’s Office, and has announced that additional furloughs of County employees will be imposed in the coming year.