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JUNE 9, 2015
WESTHAWAIITODAY.
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WEATHER, PAGE 8A
Annie’s Mailbox . . . . . . 3C Classified. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4B Comics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4C Nation & World . . . . . . . . .3A Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4A Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1B
INDEX
VOL. 47, NO. 160
20 PAGES
STINGRAYS HOLDS
ANNUAL CAMP
SPORTS, 1B
Hospital to cut 34 jobs,
close skilled nursing unit
By no later than Aug.
1, 34 positions at Kona
Community Hospital will
be eliminated, and the
hospital will shut down
its 18-bed skilled nursing
unit.
Administrators
at
the 94-bed hospital in
Kealakekua announced
the cuts Monday morning
as part of a plan to patch
a $6 million hole in the
budget for the fiscal year
beginning July 1.
“It is with deep
regret that we must
make these decisions,”
said Jay Kreuzer, West
Hawaii Regional CEO of
Hawaii Health Systems
Corporation.
“Over the past several
years, the entire hospital
staff has pulled together
to help address our finan-
cial challenges. Our hospi-
tal departments are run-
ning efficiently, and there
is no excess or waste to be
trimmed,” Kreuzer said.
“Sadly, these efforts do
not offset our fiscal 2016
deficit due to lack of state
funding.”
Kreuzer declined to
identify specific positions
that will be eliminated,
saying employees have not
yet been informed of the
decision.
The plan cuts the hos-
pital’s losses by $3 million
but still leaves a $2.5 mil-
lion loss. However, only
$900,000 of that is a cash
flow deficit, which the
hospital is able to absorb,
the hospital’s chief finan-
cial officer Dean Herzog
said.
The gap was created in
part by increased labor
costs because of collective
bargaining arrangements
and retiree health benefits
previously covered by the
state, Kreuzer said. Prior
to being faced with those
costs and the fact that
the state would not fund
them, the hospital was on
course to break even fol-
lowing a streamlining last
year that cut $9 million
BY BRET YAGER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
Marso charged in
alleged Kailua Village
hit-and-run
A Kailua-Kona man
has been charged with
alcohol- and drug-relat-
ed offenses following an
alleged hit-and-run on
Saturday in Kailua Village
that injured a 13-year-old
girl.
Matthew Marso, 30, is
accused of driving under
the influence of intox-
icants,
second-degree
negligent injury, leaving
the scene of an accident
involving injuries, pro-
moting a detrimental drug
in the third degree and
driving without a license
and proof of insurance.
His bail has been set at
$2,275. If he fails to post
bail, he’ll make his first
court appearance today.
The Nissan SUV Marso
was driving Saturday
afternoon jumped a curb
near the intersection of
Hualalai Road and Alii
Drive, striking the girl,
according to police and
witness accounts. The girl,
who is from Plano, Texas,
was treated and released
the same
day.
Witnesses
say Marso
was trying
to
leave
the scene
when
Kailua-
Kona gal-
lery owner
Joshua
Lambus
rode up on a skateboard,
yanked open the door of
the SUV and held Marso
until police arrived.
Lambus had followed
behind the SUV north
on Alii Drive from Magic
Sands, saying the vehicle
was swerving and narrow-
ly missing pedestrians and
a bicyclist. Lambus stayed
behind the vehicle until
he reached his shop along
Alii Drive and switched
the car for skateboard to
continue the pursuit. He
arrived on scene just as
the girl was hit.
The story appeared in
news outlets across the
world on Monday, with
some tabloids hailing
Lambus as a hero.
BY BRET YAGER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
Kona Community Hospital in Kealakekua is seen April 16.
LAURA SHIMABUKU/
WEST HAWAII TODAY
Matthew
Marso.
LAURA
SHIMABUKU/
WEST HAWAII
TODAY
Tourism is once again expected
to be the main economic driver on
the Big Island over the next few
years, with hotel rooms plentiful
and bargain-priced, compared to
Oahu.
That’s according toUHERO, the
University of Hawaii Economic
Research Organization, which on
Friday released a report showing
a 2.7 percent increase in over-
all tourism on the Big Island,
despite an 8.1 percent drop in
Japanese visitors after the loss of
direct flights from Japan to Kona
International Airport.
Hawaii Island’s tourism increase
is higher than Oahu’s 0.3 percent,
but not as optimistic as 5.4 per-
cent for Maui and 3.8 percent for
Kauai so far this year. Tourism is
expected to see additional healthy
gains on the neighbor islands for
the next two years, before rising
occupancy and costs begin to
bring down growth rates, some-
thing that has already occurred
on Oahu.
“You’ve got capacity,” Carl
Bonham, UHERO executive
director, said Monday. “Air flight
growth will be really phenomenal
for all of the summer, with dou-
ble-digit growth in the number of
scheduled airline seats, and you’ve
got places to put them.”
But the UHERO report and
views on the ground differ on
the second leg of the economic
Report: Tourism leading Big
Island economic recovery
BY NANCY COOK LAUER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
ABOVE: Visitors ride down Alii
Drive on the Kona Trolley on
April 9.
RIGHT: Visitors look for
bargains at a store in the
Kona Inn Shopping Village on
April 9.
PHOTOS BY LAURA SHIMABUKU/
WEST HAWAII TODAY
SEE
ECONOMY
PAGE 10A
SEE
CUTS
PAGE 5A
