HomeMy WebLinkAboutFY 2023 (Office of Economic Development)z
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THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT
FY 2023 BUDGET AND OPERATIONS SYNOPSIS
Nalani K. Kaauwai Brun
Director
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Department: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Fund: GENERAL FUND
1. FY 2022 to FY 2023 BUDGET COMPARSION
FY 2022
FY 2023
$ + / -
% + / -
Salary and Wages
606,227
S93,747
-12,480
-2.1%
Benefits
392,318
402,267
9,949
2.S%
Utilities
0
0
0
0.0%
Vehicle/Equip, Lease
0
0
0
0.0%
Operations
1,549,272
1,580,423
31,1S1
2.0%
2,547,817
2,576,437
28,620
1.1%
FY 2022 Operating Budget
■ Salary and Wages
■ Benefits
■ Utilities
■ Vehicle/Equip,
Lease
E: Operations
FY 2023 Operating Budget
■ Salary and Wages
FY 2022 and FY 2023 Comparison
1,soo,000
1,600,000
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
0
Salary and Wages Benefits
%
0%
Utilities Vehicle/Equip, Operations
Lease
■ Benefits
Utilities
■ Vehicle/Equip,
Lease
n Operations
0 FY 2022
■ FY 2023
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2. MAJOR CHANGES AND/OR VARIANCES IN OPERATIONS BUDGET
Positions: We do not have any new positions in our budget.
We split up the funding for Energy and Sustainability this year to two separate areas.
Increases: The largest increases that were offset by other cost cutting measures are:
(50,000) Funding for a new Kaua'i Made website. The current system that this website is running
on is outdated and will need to change out. We have a few websites that have this similar
problem, so we are changing them out one by one.
(70,000) To begin to rebuild our Film Industry Advertising efforts. We plan on participating in
programs like the 48 hour and Garden Island Film festival as well as increase advertising and
public relations efforts for our new Kaua'i Film website that is launching this summer. This new
site will focus on old and new locations that our film commissioner has secured.
(50,000) for the Agriculture Feasibility study to help us prepare to make sure plans will be
successful for the community's Waimea 400 ag section.
(35,000) for special events support (15000 increase) which are not funded by HTA this year and
cultural projects (20,000 increase) not funded by HTA this year. This year we expect more of this
type of project that includes gatherings to need support as they rise out of the ashes.
DECREASES: We recently completed a 5-year plan for projects so that we can determine ahead
of time when we will need funding. Each year, different sectors have different needs and team
members work together on timeline of costs to make sure each area has what they need each
fiscal without breaking the budget.
3. OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES
We were utilizing a VISTA Data hire in the last couple of years to handle a lot of our data needs.
These VISTA positions have since ended. We will be instead utilizing an outside consultant
contract to take care of some of these functions.
There was some burn out over the last couple of years operating at the pace we needed to help
effectuate recovery. We have instituted better spread of workload and double and triple trained
staff in multiple areas so that we can allow more managed time as needed.
4. TOP 3 OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS FROM FY 2022
STRATEGIC PLANNING: OED worked to create a 5-year strategic plan which included taking a
deep dive into the existing community plans (Kauai Economic Recovery Strategies Teams report,
Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies and Kauai General Plan Strategies, West
Kauai Community Plan) and actions called out by the community. We are now creating a system
to track movement by time lined action steps to insure we are on track to completion. In
addition, OED worked with the Kauai Economic Development Board to update the
Comprehensive Economic Development Strategic Plan (CEDS). This took most of the year and
included engaging with seven industry sectors including Health and Wellness, Renewable
Energy/Sustainable Technology and Practices, Science and Technology, Future Science and
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Technology Workforce, Food and Agriculture, Visitor Industry Management and Preservation
and Arts and Culture.
RISE TO WORK: The Rise to Work program was designed as a short-term solution to the economic
downturn created by Covid-19, but as the program came to a close in the end of 2020, it was clear
the pandemic and its devastating effects on the local economy would persist for much longer than
originally anticipated. At the start of 2021, the County unemployment rate remained at 12% and
newly unemployed residents were applying for initial unemployment benefits daily. The need to
support local businesses and employees remained a priority for economic recovery on Kauai.
Through the collective efforts of many public and private program partners, the 2021 Rise to Work
program was able to support 143 local employers and provide jobs for 364 Kauai residents. Its
final iteration was support for Non Profit organizations who were still struggling to get back on
their feet and ran to October of 2021. Our Hoohana Kauai program quickly placed any Rise
workers who were not retained after their employment with RTW.
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DESTINATION MANAGEMENT ACTION PLAN: Long before the pandemic started, OED worked
tirelessly with partner Kauai Visitors Bureau to actively find ways to manage the visitor industry
and its effects on our community via the Kauai Tourism Strategic Plan. By December of 2020 our
team joined with the Hawaii Tourism Authority to do another iteration of the Tourism Strategic
Plan with more of a focus on management that became known as the Kauai Destination
Management Action Plan. Different partners take on different actions but one of the many tasks
OED has taken on is to change the way visitors move around the island to provide relief to our
community on the roadways. In Fiscal Year 2022, we created the getaroundkauai.com website
to start to tell a new story about what our island wants from visitors. This is just the mouthpiece
for a larger effort to make shuttles, mobility hubs, EV, car share and bike options a more viable
option for visitors and residents. OED team members are currently working with private and
nonprofit partners, federal partners, state partners and the big dreamers of this island to keep
this momentum for change going.
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