I just got off the phone with Honolulu City Council Budget Chair Ann Kobayashi, who told me last week she and her staff would be going over Mayor Peter Carlisle‘s proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget “line by line.”

“We started Monday morning. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. We’re just about finished,” she said minutes ago. “But we’re never really finished because next week we start the department budget reviews.”

The first departmental review is Carlisle’s office, so she hopes the mayor will be down personally to talk about things. She said she’s developed some questions about the budget, but wouldn’t reveal them in advance since she wants the discussion to happen in a public setting.

“What we’re always looking for is, not wasting money exactly, but how can we make things more efficient?” she said. “Are there overlaps? Or why is this being funded?

“We have some questions about whether things are needed or whether we can maintain things. Are these things necessary? That kind of stuff.”

Check out the budget briefing schedule.