2 percent land fund on ballot

By NANCY COOK LAUER

Stephens Media

Hawaii County voters will once again get the opportunity to weigh in on a 2 percent land fund, now that Mayor Billy Kenoi has signed a bill putting it on the ballot.

The County Council Committee on Governmental Relations on Tuesday will take the final step in the process when it considers a resolution directing the county clerk to send ballot language to the state chief elections officer. The amendment would go into effect Nov. 7 if approved by voters in the Nov. 6 general election.

Kenoi told Stephens Media on Thursday that he signed the bill because he supports the open space land fund. He vetoed the County Council’s attempt last year to lower the 2 percent of real property tax revenues to 1 percent. But he himself had asked the fund be suspended for two years when economic times were hard. Kenoi stopped short of saying he’d vote to change the current 1 percent in the charter to 2 percent, however.

“What happens in the ballot box stays in the ballot box,” Kenoi said.

The charter amendment requires a minimum of 2 percent of real property taxes be put into a Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund.

It also requires the county put in deed covenants on all land it buys with the fund that lands purchased with the fund shall be held in perpetuity for “the use and enjoyment of the people of Hawaii County and may not be sold, mortgaged, traded or
transferred in any way.”

“I believe that language is already being added in the purchase agreements,” said bill sponsor Brenda Ford, councilwoman representing South Kona. “But I want to make it a requirement so future councils or mayors can’t do that evil thing.”

Voters in 2006 voted to create a county ordinance earmarking 2 percent for the land fund. But because it was an ordinance and not in the charter, the County Council had the authority to override it.

The council in 2009 voted to suspend the money going into the fund for two years at Kenoi’s request.

The county Charter Commission in 2010, trying to make the land fund more permanent, created a charter amendment setting a minimum of 1 percent of property taxes going into the fund. That amendment passed with 65.8 percent of the vote.

About $2 million a year goes into the fund at the 1 percent rate, said Debbie Hecht, campaign coordinator for the Save Our Lands Citizens Committee that collected about 10,000 signatures for the 2006 citizen initiative. With matching funds, that creates just $4 million a year for land purchases, compared to $8 million a year at the 2 percent rate with matching funds.

Kenoi, however, put the full 2 percent in his budget for the fiscal year ending June 30.

So far, the county has purchased four parcels with the money: Kaiholena North and Paoo in North Kohala, Waipio Lookout in Hamakua and Kawaa Bay in Ka’u. It’s currently in the process of purchasing another parcel, the Kingman Trust parcel across Alii Drive from Laaloa Beach Park, also known as Magic Sands.

A related charter amendment is also in the pipeline. It would devote 0.25 percent of property taxes to maintain the land the county is purchasing with open space funds.

The money — an anticipated $500,000 a year — would go into its own fund, kept separate from the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund.

Hilo Councilmen Donald Ikeda and Dennis Onishi have consistently voted against or been absent for the two ballot proposals, saying they take budget flexibility away from the administration.

“The 1 percent is already on the books,” Onishi said Thursday. “Any administration should have the flexibility in case of bad economic times.”

Email Nancy Cook Lauer at ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com.