By JASON ARMSTRONG Tribune-Herald staff writer ADVERTISING Hawaii County is facing a fourth straight year of lowered property tax collections, which will force additional cuts, Mayor Billy Kenoi wrote in a letter presented Wednesday to the state Legislature’s two money
By JASON ARMSTRONG
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Hawaii County is facing a fourth straight year of lowered property tax collections, which will force additional cuts, Mayor Billy Kenoi wrote in a letter presented Wednesday to the state Legislature’s two money committees.
Kenoi was unable to make his annual pitch on the Legislature’s opening day because he’s in Washington, D.C., attending a national mayors conference. Instead, his one-page letter was delivered to the Senate’s Ways and Means Committee and the House Finance Committee by Managing Director William Takaba, who serves as acting mayor when Kenoi is off island.
Economic challenges created by a global recession have not ended, Kenoi wrote in making an unusually modest request of state lawmakers.
“While we are seeing signs of an economic recovery, the County of Hawaii is projecting a fourth year of declining property tax revenues,” Kenoi said of the county’s main source of money. “The loss of revenue will force us to make even more cuts — and as in the past three budget cycles, we have pledged to balance our budget without threatening public health and safety, or (by) cutting programs that serve our children, senior citizens and working families.”
Kenoi has relied on a combination of not filling vacant positions, deferring certain expenses, higher property tax rates, and making cuts like eliminating the free Hele-On bus service to achieve balanced budgets.
His 2011-12 spending request to the County Council was $35.9 million less than the $403.2 million operating budget he inherited upon becoming mayor in December 2008.
Last year, Kenoi asked the Legislature for $35 million in infrastructure funding and famously stated, “The unavoidable truth is we now have a county government that we cannot afford.”
This year, Kenoi broke with tradition and didn’t urge state lawmakers to finance Big Island construction projects or to pass legislation benefiting Hawaii County.
“We recognize the Hawaii State Legislature continues to face difficult decisions, and rather than burden you with a wish list, we come to you today with a single request: Please maintain our county’s share of the transient accommodations tax as agreed upon during the last session,” Kenoi wrote in the letter Takaba read on his behalf.
Hawaii’s three other mayors made the same request, Takaba said of keeping the present distribution formula for revenues generated by the state’s 9.25 percent tax on hotel rooms.
TAT funding represents the county’s second-largest revenue source behind property taxes, accounting for an estimated $17.3 million during the current fiscal year. That number represents a $1.4 million drop due to the Legislature’s decision to cap the counties’ combined share at $93 million.
“I support (Kenoi’s) position as a member of the Ways and Means (Committee),” said Sen. Gil Kahele, D-Hilo, Puna, Ka’u.
Kahele, the only Big Island member serving on either of the Legislature’s two money committees, said he heard Takaba’s pitch on Wednesday.
Kahele said he expects that the present TAT distribution formula will be maintained.
“That’s the sense I got from the other colleagues, senators, that attended today’s session,” Kahele said following Wednesday’s meeting at the state Capitol.
That’s in spite of the state facing an estimated $130 million revenue reduction for the fiscal year starting July 1.
Email Jason Armstrong at jarmstrong@hawaiitribune-
herald.com.
