Good story today by Kevin Dayton, who uncovered the news that the city suspended its own debt guidelines to pay for the Honolulu rail project.

Normally, the city won’t spend more than 20 percent of its total operating budget on debt service, and won’t spend more than 20 percent of general fund money on repaying debt, according to the paper.

HART plans to retire the rail debt, which will peak at just over $1 billion, with federal funds and GET surcharge revenue. Read Civil Beat‘s recent story: Just How Deep Will Honolulu Rail’s Debt Be?

The top of today’s Honolulu Star-Advertiser article:

City Managing Director Douglas Chin quietly approved a request to suspend city debt guidelines last year in a move that clears the way for the extraordinary borrowing necessary to finance the city’s $5.27 billion rail project.

Chin’s decision in October to suspend “debt affordability guidelines” adopted by the City Council was never publicly announced, and Council Budget Committee Chairwoman Ann Kobayashi said even she was never notified.

Read the rest of the story here: Debt guidelines suspended to facilitate rail financing (subscription required)