The state Department of Transportation will get $5.7 million to help pay for a new Kína'u Street off-ramp on H-1 Freeway near Lusitania Street, U.S. Sens. Daniel K. Inouye and Daniel Akaka announced yesterday.

The new off-ramp is intended to provide motorists more direct access to Lusitania Street in the direction of The Queen's Medical Center. The project has been awarded to a contractor and is in the final permitting process.

MAUI FACING $13.9M DEFICIT, MAYOR SAYS

WAILUKU, Maui — Maui County is facing a $13.9 million budget shortfall this year, according to a letter sent by Mayor Charmaine Tavares to the Maui County Council on Thursday.

For months, finance officials have been warning that the county could face a decline in revenues by $50 million or more in the 2011 fiscal year, but Tavares said it appears that the economic downturn has struck county finances sooner than anticipated, The Maui News reported.

Tavares said the administration "has already undertaken steps to curtail expenditures and expenses."

Tavares' warning came on top of other bad news for the county budget.

County Finance Director Kalbert Young said Friday that property tax assessments for the 2011 fiscal year look like they will be worse than forecast.

Young now predicts valuations will decline by 13 percent, with additional declines forecast for 2012 and 2013.

That means property tax revenues will be cut by the same amount, unless the county increases rates to compensate, he said.

E-WASTE RECYCLING TAKES HIT ON BIG ISLE

HILO, Hawai'i — E-waste recycling centers on the Big Island are no longer accepting old computers, TVs, microwaves and printers.

Hawai'i County's agreement with a recycling contractor expired Dec. 31, and government officials are looking for money to pay for a new contract extension.

The county spent $320,000 last year subsidizing residential e-waste recycling.

The contractor, Recycle Hawaii, stopped accepting e-waste last week because its warehouses are full and it can't afford to ship the excess to the Mainland.