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Home My WebLink AboutFY 2024 (Office of Economic Affairs) Budget Narrative THE OFFICE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FY 2024 BUDGET AND OPERATIONS SYNOPSIS Nalani K. Kaauwai Brun Director 1 Department: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Fund: GENERAL FUND 1. FY 2023 to FY 2024 BUDGET COMPARSION FY 2023 FY 2024 $ + / - % + / - Salary and Wages 608,291 642,191 32,901 5.4% Benefits 402,267 415,404 13,137 3.3% Utilities 0 0 0 0.0% Vehicle/Equip, Lease 1 1,000 1,000 100.0% Operations 1,580,423 1,682,152 101,729 6.4% 2,590,981 2,739,748 148,767 5.7% 2 2. MAJOR CHANGES AND/OR VARIANCES IN OPERATIONS BUDGET Positions: We do not have any new positions in our budget. Increases: The largest increases that were offset by other cost cutting measures are: o (41,677) Funding for Stewardship Support. This funding happens every other year to support groups that have stewardship agreements with the county and some state to help maintain wahipana. o (25,000) Increase for the Kauai Economic Development Board to support our Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy including pointed efforts in the State’s Good Jobs Challenge. o (37,000) new line item under management for an all-encompassing social media support contract to get the word out about all of our program activity including www.kauaiforward.com; www.kauaifestivals.com; www.filmkauai.com; www.kauaimade.net; www.getaroundkauai.com; and www.kauaichallenge.org . o (50,000) for a Small Business Energy Efficiency Program that can complement state programming. o (20,000) new line item under Film for Other commodities such as film promotional items. This was previously under administration for management but has since been moved back. DECREASES: Most decreases were due to shifting around of line items. 3. OPERATIONAL CHALLENGES 2023 Film Challenges. Film faces new and old challenges on Kauai including record inflation, the loss of many prime filming locations, lack of infrastructure, and a booming tourism industry which causes lack of rooms and cars. Locations have also been bought up by new owners who do not feel the need to engage in filming on their property. To combat this, we have secured several new location sites and continue to work on others to rebuild our location inventory. Pivoting from agriculture internship to work-based learning. Our Summer Agriculture Internship program struggled to recruit interested students this past summer likely due to lack of workforce and thus other sectors are competing for student’s summer work hours. To keep this program going we are piloting a work-based learning (WBL) course with the Department of Education that is tailored for each student’s interest. The pilot program will run through the Spring 2023 semester and include students from the three public high schools on island. The full WBL course is intended to be a full year that program will launch in Fall 2023. 4. TOP 3 OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS FROM FY 2023 Enthusiastic new business specialist. We lost our amazing business specialist in February of 2022 and had to spend some time looking for a worthy replacement. We feel extremely lucky to have found an amazing hire in Nate Prescott who has excellent background in both business and 3 government and thoroughly enjoys going out and meeting business owners and support personnel around the island. He is well on way to reaching his goal of meeting with 400 businesses this year. The program has already begun business surveys, pooled resources, and is navigating the web of government offices and services for better pathways to support business. New Kaua`i Film Website and Logo. The new Kauai Film Website and logo was launched along with an advertising and public relations campaign and newsletter as we move into Kauai’s 90th Anniversary of film on Kauai. The logo was modernized and features our signature purple and the lush green of our island. The new website engages visitors with fun facts and trivia challenges and features some of the new locations that our film commissioner has brought into the fold. More recently video clips were created to invite producers to come back to our Kauai and are being used in social media to help get the word out and keep Kauai top of mind. Film permitting has also gone online along with our Kauai Made and Rights of Way permitting that comes out of our office. http://www.filmkauai.com Innovation Grantee, Hoomalu Ke Kai. Our Innovation Grants always create some of our favorite highlights. This year we want to highlight one of our partners, Hoomalu Ke Kai. This program brings together science and culture at the Nomilo pond. This funded project, using proven water filtration methods and a unique oyster growing system developed by University of Hawaii researchers is demonstrating a land-based system capable of producing large quantities of oysters in a small space. It is solar-powered, scalable and could possibly be used at any body of water with adequate nutrient load and permit-ability. This process allows for the filtration of invasive 4 pests that had inundated prior attempts at growing oysters. We love how, if successful, Kauai could become home to a unique, innovative system capable of overcoming the challenges of Hawaiian oyster farming and produce a delicious new product for local markets. Photo: Roof installation of solar panels, rotary drum filter device and new plumbing. The tanks act as a reservoir for oyster culture cylinders that will be at ground level and recirculate through the reservoir tank.