Department of Accounting and General Services

HONOLULU- The state of Hawaiʻi is preparing to release $112,114,101.63 in funding reimbursements to the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART). It is money HART asks for every quarter — but before any state funds go out, the Audit Division at the Department of Accounting and General Services (DAGS) reviews each and every invoice to make sure it is compliant with the law.

The division assigned three auditors to track HART’s invoices and check them against Hawaii Revised Statute (HRS) 46-16.8 (f). That statute oversees the use of surcharge revenues received from the state for capital costs of a locally preferred alternative for a mass transportation project. The revenues are transferred to the Mass Transit Special Fund where reimbursements are made to HART.

Reimbursement is not a given; the Audit Division will withhold funds it determines not to be compliant. One such example is in the most recent certification letter for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. The auditors identified invoices totaling $83,760.86, which they deemed as HART administrative costs, which does not meet HRS 46-16.8 (f). They deducted that from the reimbursement amount.

In another example, auditors removed $1,758,982.91 from the invoices because the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation (HDOT) is the appropriate payer under an agreement between HART and HDOT.

The latest Schedule of Invoices lists over 100 line items. The highest invoices are in the $10 million range for building contractor Tutor Perini Corporation.

After the Audit Division goes over each and every invoice, the comptroller issues a quarterly certification letter to the State Department of Budget and Finance (B&F), which can then reimburse HART from the Mass Transit Special Fund. For the quarter that ended on June 30, 2025, the Comptroller issued the certification letter on August 5.

“We want the public to know there are checks and balances in place to make sure the state is responsibly spending state taxpayer dollars,” says DAGS Director and Comptroller Keith Regan.

HART is a semi-autonomous entity of the City and County of Honolulu, so there are funding sources from other government agencies besides the state of Hawaiʻi.

“Since January 2018, we have verified approximately $2.7 billion in invoices and withheld approximately $23.3 million,” adds Audit Division Administrator Ron Shiigi. “We take pride in being able to protect the public’s money.”

The Comptroller’s Certification Letters are public and filed on B&F’s website; go to the right column and click on “Act 1, 2017 Mass Transit Special Fund.”