Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 11, 1 November 2004 — OHA board approves $9.4 million in increased program spending [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OHA board approves $9.4 million in increased program spending

By Sterling Kini Wong In August, the OHA board voted to amend its spending policy, freeing $9.4 million dollars from the agency's trust fund that will be used to finance various Hawaiian programs and initiatives. The OHA board will decide in the near future how to spend about $4 million of the recently released money that has not yet been earmarked for any projects. Mueh of the remaining money has already been allocated to fund multi-year grants for various programs, including one that plans to enroll 500 Hawaiian youths into college over the next five years and another that focuses on vocational scholarships for Hawaiians. The change in policy was based on a spending policy study completed by the Frank Russell Company that said OHA was actually saving and investing more money than was necessary, according to Jim Sharp, OHA's chief financial officer. "There has been an emphasis on saving money to ensure that future generations of Hawaiians could benefit from the trust fund," he said. "But that meant less money is spent on Hawaiians today." OHA Trustee Oswald Stender said that the board decided it needed to halanee the needs of current beneficiaries with that of future beneficiaries. "Up to now, we haven't paid

enough attention to the current beneficiaries," he said. "The rationale of the board was that if OHA spent more money now to solve some of the problems facing Hawaiians today, there may not be some of the same problems in the future, so less money would be needed." With the change in policy, the board now has the opportunity to spend revenue the state pays OHA from ceded lands. Previously, that money was invested with the rest of OHA's trust fund, whieh is currently $330 million. Sharp said over the last three years, OHA has received an average of $9.4 million from revenues generated from ceded lands, whieh are the former crown and government lands of the Kingdom of Hawai'i that were transferred to the state upon entering the Union. As in the past, OHA will continue to spend five percent of the value of the investment portfolio annually. ■

"lf OHA spends more money now to solve some of the problems facing Hawaiians today there may not be some of the same problems in the future, so less money would be needed -Trustee Oz Stender

Nū Hou

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