The City Council budget chairman wants to lower a proposed tax credit for most homeowners next year to pay for expanding curbside recycling to West O'ahu.

Nestor Garcia's latest plan calls for giving owner-occupants a tax credit of $150 to offset an increase in property tax rates. Previously, Garcia proposed a $175 tax credit.

The savings would help pay for the $6 million expansion of curbside recycling to West O'ahu next year.

Garcia's latest plan would also lower the proposed increase in parking rates at the Honolulu Zoo parking lot and along Kalakaua Avenue fronting Kapi'olani Park. Zoo parking would go to $1 an hour and Kalakaua parking to 75 cents an hour, up from the existing 25 cents an hour. An earlier plan called for raising the rate to $1.50 an hour in both areas.

Garcia, while the head of the budget committee, is only one of nine council members and at least three other budget plans are expected to be considered when the full council meets Wednesday for a final vote on the $1.8 billion budget.

The Garcia plan has a major backer in Mayor Mufi Hannemann, who said late yesterday that the budget chairman's proposal would be the one he prefers.

Under the plan, the property tax rate would rise to $3.59 per $1,000 of assessed value just as it would under Hannemann's March proposal and the last plan approved by the budget committee on May 19.

Unlike Garcia's proposed $150 tax credit, the original Hannemann plan called for a $75 credit.

This year's tax rate for residential property owners was $3.29 per $1,000, with a $100 tax credit for owner-occupants. City officials say they need to increase the tax rate to sustain current services in the face of lower home values.

Hannemann yesterday reiterated that even at $3.59, the residential tax rate is still lower than when he was elected mayor five years ago.

Yesterday was the deadline for council members to submit proposals for changes to the budget and approximately 20 came in.

All four major proposals dealing with taxes called for restoring the recycling program.

The area from Waipi'o to Makua is the last region on O'ahu without recycling, and service was to begin next year.

RECYCLING PROGRAM

Only two weeks ago, Garcia got the budget committee to approve a one-year delay for extending curbside recycling. Almost immediately, several of Garcia's colleagues asked that recycling be extended next year as originally planned.

Among them was Council Chairman Todd Apo, who represents the West O'ahu region. Apo stood by Garcia during a press conference yesterday and said while he appreciates the restoration of the curbside recycling expansion, he's still undecided on which tax plan he supports.

A number of West O'ahu residents also contacted the council, asking that funding for the recycling program be restored. The president of the Palehua Townhouse Association, Mike Golojuch, sent a note to the council, pointing out that he and his neighbors are particularly sensitive to the need to divert trash from the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill, which is at nearby Kahe Point.

"We want to keep the landfill from filling up faster," Golojuch said.

Members of the Hannemann administration had also urged council members to reconsider the decision, as did environmental groups.

Meanwhile, Waikiki surfers and beachgoers swamped council members with e-mails and telephone calls, protesting the plan to hike parking rates by what would amount to a six-fold increase.

Apo and Garcia yesterday said no other rate increase generated as many calls, e-mails and letters of protest as the parking fees for Waikiki.

Garcia said his latest plan — $1 an hour at the zoo and 75 cents an hour along Kalakaua — calls for more at the zoo because the additional money will go toward planned renovations there.

OTHER ACTION

Among the three other major operating budget proposals submitted yesterday: