It seems every day there’s breaking news about government corruption, waste, fraud, abuse, inefficiencies, and incompetence.

It seems every County except Kauaʻi has made the headlines.

A 5 minute internet search using the words “County Auditor discovers, reveals, reports…” quickly brought these 3 headlines to the surface.

In 2023 the Hawaiʻi County Auditor discovered “severe vulnerabilities in internal controls, tracking systems, and administrative oversight regarding how affordable housing credits were distributed and monitored” – resulting in a former Hawaiʻi County housing development specialist being sentenced in federal court to 46 months in prison for taking bribes.

An audit by the Maui County Auditor revealed the Maui County Finance Department failed to collect nearly $17 million in TAT as of June 2022.

The Honolulu City auditor released a report in January that found after five years, the Honolulu Office of Economic Revitalization met less than 40% of its mission to promote agriculture, technology and small businesses.

So far, Kauaʻi County has avoided these headlines.

Whether this is due to our excellent, honest, and efficient County employees, the stellar management of our Council and Mayor, or the fact that Kauaʻi County does not have an Independent County Auditor – we do not know.

And we really won’t know until the day comes when the Kauaʻi Council actually complies with the County Charter, hires a qualified independent auditor, and provides the budget and support for the auditor to do its job.

Yes, we’ve heard and continue to hear, excuse after excuse as to why the Council has failed to comply with the Kauaʻi Charter requirement for an Independent Office of the County Auditor.

Yet, every other County has succeeded in establishing this office, and the results of having an independent auditor conducting regular “performance audits” of the various County departments and programs, speaks for itself.

Waste, fraud, abuse, bribery, and inefficiencies exist in every large organization, government and private.

You can be sure that public assets (equipment, vehicles, tools) are being used inappropriately for private purposes by public employees. You can also be sure there is favoritism in the granting of County permits, and the distribution of County services.

While we do not know the extent of such activity, it is without a doubt occurring in Kauaʻi County at some level.

And there’s also no question that some County operations are over-staffed and some are woefully under-staffed.

Independent audits that review the operations of County government are essential to improve government operations, increase efficiency, save money, and root out the bad actors.

The Office of the Kauaʻi County Auditor, which is required by the Kauaʻi Charter, has been vacant for eleven years.

This means not one INDEPENDENT performance audit of any Kauaʻi County department or program has been conducted for over a decade now.

Yes, there is a required “budget audit” conducted yearly which evaluates the budget, and yes occasionally the Council will request and fund an audit of various operations.

However by definition, these are not INDEPENDENT audits free of political intent or interference, whether real or perceived.

And these audits certainly do not fulfill the requirements of the County Charter.

It’s an election year.

3 of our 7 Councilmembers are asking for our vote and support to be Kauaʻi’s next Mayor.

Each is promising “leadership” and “action” and each has a long list of things they are promising to address.

My hope is the hiring of a County Auditor is high on that list – and will be completed soon, now, before the election.

Other items such as establishing a County Department of Agriculture, curbside recycling, tackling the cesspool/septic/sewer issue, providing increased support to our homeless friends and neighbors, and the debacle known as the Coco Palms Hotel – can also be addressed NOW and need not wait until the election comes and goes.

It’s important I think, to remind all 7 on the Council AND our Mayor, that regardless of what happens on August 8 or November 3rd, they each will remain in office until December 1st – and much work (not just campaigning) can still be done in the coming 5 months.