$7,000 for a 4-day conference? Where are they staying, the Walforf Astoria? My last cross-country business trip (5 days) cost $1100 including per diem, and I stayed at the Embassy Suites for $93/night. Something isn't right!
It is $7000 for FOUR people. This is actually amazingly cheap considering it is in Hawaii. When I go to conferences in Wash DC, NYC, SF, or FL the cost is around $2000 for 5 days just for 1 person.
All the county needs to do is force some private, local citizen off his or her land using the soon to be monster popular eminent domain, and then sell the land for a tidy profit to some other private entity, and Voila....
Plenty of money to go party it up in Hawaii!!!