(a) Except where improvements are made pursuant to §§ 14-10.2 or 14-10.3, the city may pay, out of any funds available for such purposes, any one or more of the following: the cost of engineering, incidentals, inspections, surveys, maps, plans, specifications, other engineering data, land acquisition, publication of notices of hearing, mailing notices to owners and lessees, services of bond counsel, printing of bonds, preparation and printing of an official statement relating to the bonds, publication and distribution of the notice of sale of bonds, execution and delivery of bonds, registrars’ and paying agents’ fees and expenses, other reimbursements to registrars and paying agents and publication and mailing of notices of redemption, rating agency fees, the cost of funding a debt service reserve fund for the payment of the principal of and interest on bonds, premiums for municipal bond insurance to ensure the timely payment of the principal of and interest on bonds or to ensure in lieu of funding a debt service reserve fund for bonds and fees for letters of credit and other credit enhancements to secure the timely payment of the principal of and interest on bonds. The city may elect to pay all or any portion of such costs or any other such preliminary costs, or both, out of available funds, or may assess all or any portion of such costs according to the benefits arising therefrom and in the manner provided for apportioning assessments for general improvements. Such costs, if advanced by the city, may be reimbursed to the city from the proceeds of the sale of general obligation bonds or improvement district bonds.
The city may also assume the following costs:
(1) In the case of an improvement district that is assessed only on a frontage basis, the cost assessable against the frontage of an adjoining or cross street;
(2) In the case of an improvement district that is assessed on an area basis or an area and frontage basis, the cost of improving the surface area common to both streets at the intersection of any cross street or one-half of the surface area opposite the intersection of any adjoining street;
(3) In improvement districts generally, 50 percent of the total cost of general improvements (which is the cost of the entire improvement, excluding such cost heretofore mentioned in the first sentence of this section as may be paid by the city and the cost for the sanitary sewer system and driveway aprons) upon or along all main or general thoroughfares, as hereinafter defined, and upon or along all other highways;
(4) In the case of an improvement district that is assessed on any other basis permitted under this section, such common costs as the council shall determine; and
(5) In the case of a main or general thoroughfare, the city may pay out of available funds the cost of all or any part of that portion of pavement in excess of 28 feet in width. A main or general thoroughfare within the meaning hereof is any highway as is subjected to more than ordinary traffic and travel by the general public, or which serves as a generally necessary connecting thoroughfare between substantially different or naturally separate localities or sections of the district of Honolulu, or which serves as a generally necessary connecting thoroughfare between districts of the city. Notwithstanding subdivision (3), in improvement districts in which more than 50 percent of the households are low-income households, the city may assume up to 75 percent of the low-income households’ share of the total cost of general improvements described in that subdivision.
For the purposes of this subsection, “low-income household” means a household that owns and occupies a residence in an improvement district and whose income (by family size) does not exceed 80 percent of the median income for the city, as determined by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development; provided that income for this purpose refers to total income as shown on the federal tax return and all nontaxable income, including but not limited to the amount of capital gains excluded from total income, alimony, support money, nontaxable strike benefits, cash public assistance and relief, the gross amount of any pension or annuity benefits received (including Railroad Retirement Act benefits and veterans’ disability pensions), all payments received under the federal Social Security and State unemployment insurance laws, nontaxable interest received from the federal government or any of its instrumentalities, workers’ compensation, the gross amount of “loss of time” insurance, nontaxable contributions to public or private pension, annuity or deferred compensation plans, and federal cost of living allowances.
(b) If the council determines that the interests of the city will be best served by protecting the city from claims for damages from surface waters, the council may provide for the collection and disposition of stormwaters by proceeding independently of any other improvement. If the city does so, it may pay the whole or any part of the cost thereof out of available funds. In the event the city pays part of the cost of the storm drainage system, it shall assess the remaining cost according to the benefits arising therefrom and in the manner provided for apportioning assessments for general improvements. In the event the storm drainage system is included as part of general improvements, the cost thereof shall be allocated in accordance with subsection (a)(3). It shall be lawful for the city to assume and pay out of such available funds all or any part of the cost of acquiring any new land required for any improvement under Articles 8 through 14 of this chapter.
(c) Notwithstanding subsection (a):
(1) The city shall not bear the costs of inspections requested to be made during any hour after the normal working hours of the city in any workday, or on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday; and
(2) The costs of installing the lateral connections to utilities shall be paid by the respective owners of the properties on which the lateral connections are installed.
(Sec. 24-2.1, R.O. 1978 (1987 Supp. to 1983 Ed.)) (1990 Code, Ch. 14, Art. 24, § 14-24.1) (Am. Ords. 90-91, 91-23)