Reforms needed
With all the hurried notions regarding the County Council’s passage of a general excise tax increase to meet budget shortfalls, one way the county could add to its coffers and avoid raising taxes of any kind is to stop wasting taxpayer money. Each county department should expedite cost-cutting solutions.
For example, the payroll office is still sending employees paper copies of its bimonthly payroll information via snail mail, even if employees opted for automatic deposit into their bank accounts.
That means 47 cents postage and wasted paper, twice a month, for hundreds of employees. Most of these payroll notices aren’t even looked at or go immediately into the round file or recycling bin. A simple, cost-effective solution is electronic notification of payroll information.
As a 30-year resident, I worked full time for the county from 2000-08. On hire, I was fingerprinted once and received the usual hiring documents.
Fast-forward to 2014. I retired, received my yoga teaching certificate and in 2015 joined the Kamana Senior Center to teach one yoga class. At that time, teachers for the Parks and Recreation Department were given a $25 honorarium per class and received a 1099 tax form at the end of the year. It seemed to all work out well.
However, in 2017, all 60 teachers for the Kamana Senior Center were to be considered regular employees. Now, for our $25 per class (and less than $2 taken out for taxes), we have to do rehire papers and be refingerprinted for each fiscal year! Hello? When last I heard, a fingerprint doesn’t change. This wastes a tremendous amount of administrative time, money and, yes again, paper.
It’s time to update many systems in county government to less wasteful practices. Appeal to the mayor and County Council members to demand that department heads streamline their divisions, come into the digital age and stop wasting taxpayer money.
Linda Damas
Hilo