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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/17/2010 Public Hearing Transcript re: BILL 2348PUBLIC .HEARING ,MARCH 17, 2010 A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kauai was called to .order by Lani Kawahara, Chair, Parks/Transportation Committee, on Wednesday, March 17, 2010, at 1:54 p.m. at the Council Chambers, .Historic County Building, 4396 .Rice Street, Lihu'e, Kauai, and the presence of the following was noted: Honorable Tim Bynum Honorable Dickie Chang Honorable Jay .Furfaro Honorable .Daryl W. Kaneshiro Honorable Lani T: Kawahara Honorable Derek S. K. Kawakami Honorable Bill "Kaipo" Asixg, Council Chair The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the followir.~ig: BILL NO. 2348 - A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 19, ARTICLE 3, ,SECTION 19-3.2 AND SECTION 19-3.3 OF THE KAUAI COUNTY CODE 1987; AS AMENDED, RELATING. TO PLAYING FEES AND REGULATION OF PLAYAT THE. WAILUA GOLF COURSE, which was ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kauai on February 3, 2010, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on March 5, 2010. The following communications were received for the record: 1) Wyn Hansen notes. 2) June Araki's testimony -(undated). The hearing proceeded as follows: BRUCE CUNNINGHAM: That's not xny best side, the left side. 1VIy name is Bruce Cunningham, and I just...for a point of information, I'd like to know who the city officials or what bodies are the city officials composed of, who .made the price hike ast July lst. Is it correct to say -that. those... that decision came from a combination of the park and rec, cost control; the finance department, the city council, and the mayor? Is that correct? Mr. Furfaro: Let me explain to the... In our charter amendment, we have a cost control commission. 1 Mr. Cunningham: Yes. Mr. Furfaro: The cost control commission expanded some of their work this year, .which introduced a revenue portion as well. So the recommendations on the fees... -Now they-would have had public input for that particular piece, which included: finance and parks and recreation. That recommendation then -,goes to the mayor by charter rules, and what was ..laid out in that charter amendment then comes. o the council to be voted on. ]But the input of the plan was stimulated from the duties of the cost control commission. Mr. Cunningham: Cost control, but then everybody had decision making power in the end, so o speak. Mr. Furfaro: Yes. Mr. Cunningham: Yes, okay... Mr. Furfaro: To accept or deny the recommendation. Mr: Cunningham: Right, okay. I just wanted to get that clear. Now I'm a nonresident, but unlike nonresident tourists, I'm a partner in a piece of property here. on Kauai; so I pay taxes. But the- enormous afternoon twilight rate increase of over 100 percent starting last -July lst where a 10-play pass... a 10-play pass used. to cost $135. It went up to $275; that's over a hundred. percent. That decision failed to differentiate, between nonresidents like myself who own property here or -are part-owners of property and nonresident who come as tourists. So I think that's... That was a little unfair. I think that: the people who own property here who are nonresidents should get a little more of a break than those who don't. Now; I'm 73 years old and a senior citizen living on a fixed iincome, and to compensate for. the tremendous increase in the golf prices at afternoon twilight at Wailua; I now play Wailua a few times a month.:. and Kukuiolono :for nine dollars around much- more. So in essence, the-Wailua golf course has lost money on me. I like to play Wailua more because it's a beautiful course, it's a championship course, but I can't afford it. And then that-also means that when I'm not at Wailua, I'm not buying breakfasts, I'm not buying at the snack bar, I'm not buying iin the pro shop, I'm not_hitting balls, and I'm not buying a beer after I play, so that's another loss for the golf course. Now- I'll try not to be long-winded; I'll be as fast as I can. Now the rate .increase, I believe, was ill-conceived in that -the people who made it, the county officials, did not take-into consideration the economic times (you know, people losing their. homes to foreclosure, which is still happening), people losing their -jobs, .people losing their healthcare,. and they didn't take that into consideration when raising the prices so high, plus they didn't take into consideration why tourists play golf. They play golf to pass time. A. lot of them are not what you call avid golfers. They -only play it to pass the .time. And when they . 2 walked up to the desk. this year and said I'd like. to give you my t`venty dollars to play and to rent; clubs and 'to rent a golf cart and to... so on and so on, they said all that's doubled from last.year. So in essence, what-was done with this price increase was asking the nonresidents to pay. more,. a .hundred percent more, and play less, because, what has not been mentioned yet is that the fact one hour of time in the afternoon was taken away from: us. So instead of starting°at two o'clock and being able to finish before dark in the wintertime, they now changed it as of.July 1st to three- o'clock, when. you- cannot finish. But let me just .add a caveat to that: Because after July 1St at two o'clock in the. afternoon. Wailua became a ghost town, and the people with whom I played could tee-off at three o'clock on the shortest day of the year, December 21, -and we could'. still get 18 .holes in finishing in th.e dark, because nobody, literally nobody, was in front of us, and of course nobody was in back of us pushing. So the policy was a failed policy, and I just want to,.and you're probably all familiar with this, the October 26 garden isle says at the bottom, county officials now considering lowering the cost- for visitors or nonresidents playing Wailua golf course after a recent fee increase, July 1, was determined to have reduced visitor play.. So the county officials .themselves have admitted -that three anal a half months after the price increase went into effect; especially for twilight play after two o'clock, it .had failed. And yet the price was.. not changed, and it -has nolt changed since July 1, but I must say that as of February 1, the hour was given back to us. I don't know how it was, if it was done with an amendment; or some lawyer said it was okay; or discretionary power was given. back to the golf course, I don't know. But we do have it. We :now tee. off at two o'clock. instead of three o'clock, but; it's kind of like after the...I guess you call the chicken's out of the coop, because by February 1, it was getting lighter and lighter, and to give us that... and you could almost finish, even if you had people in front of you if you. started at three o'cloc]~. But anyway, that's neither here nor there, that hour was given back to us: So that's... I guess that's about all... Oh, one more- thing. The golf course has lost;, I figured out, perhaps I'm wrong, I figured out that the golf course lost from July 1 until at least February 1, because the in... giving `us back the hour, .more people arse... Mr. Furfaro: Excuse me, sir. Excuse me just a second. Ms. Kawahara: I'm sorry, we're trying to figure out our timer. I'm sorry. Mr. Furfaro: Yeah, they're trying to figure out the timer. You get six minutes to testify,. and she's attempting to get it figured out so she knows how much more time to give you. Mr. Nakamura: Committee. Chair, there's one more minute in the six. minutes. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you, you got one' minute. 3 Mr. Cunningham: Oh thank you. I figured out from ~~uly 1 to at least February 1, and perhaps beyond that, the golf course lost approximately five to $600 a day with people not playing and not, you know.... So you times that by 30, that's $18,000 a month that the golf course lost. Over a period of six or seven months, that's almost a hundred thousand dollars. So I think it was a failed policy, and I would like to see the price come down and be more reasonable; maybe a fifty percent increase in the 10-play pass, instead of a hundred percent increase. That seems to be more reasonable and more fair. I guess that's it. Thank: you very much. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you Mr. Cunningham, and also thank you for verifying that the twilight hour was replaced... Mr. Cunningham: Pardon me. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you for verifying for me that the twilight hour to two o'clock was replaced. Mr. Cunningham: As of about February 1 it was brought back from three o'clock to two o'clock. Ms: Kawahara: Okay, great. Mr. Cunningham: So we can finish 18 holes if there were a number of people playing, which there have not been. Thank you. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. WYN HANSEN: Greetings, my name is Wyn Hansen. I'm a disgruntled citizen from I~lauea, and I'd like to note that I do not see park and rec here. Is that true? Ms. Kawahara: No, I don't see them here. Mr. Furfaro: First of all before you go any further, the administration across the street, all offices, finance, parks and recreation, public works, they do have this streamed into their office. So they could be there. Mr. Hansen: Well, I think they should be present. I mean this is really a major important issue. Mr. Furfaro: Sir, I want to point out to you, at a public hearing in our procedure, the public is allowed to testify. In a committee meeting which this will move to, then the department heads are here, and the council can ask questions. 4 Mr. Hansen: Well, if I was the director of park and rec, I would be here. Anyway, the reason I am here today is twofold. One is the mayor stopped me on the street back in May of 2009, shook my hand, looked me in the eye and said, if I ever have any concerns, just give me a call or stop by my office, my door is always open to you. Then just before July 1, 2009, an article appeared in The Garden Island, county works on customer service skills, Mayor 13ernard said, "I encourage the public to fill out survey cards, that to deliver excellent customer service is a priority for his administration, Ithink it's important that our one on one interactions with the public are positive and productive." I said to myself after these two experiences, this guy is right on. Well little did I know, customer service, you got to be kidding. Customer service, god help us. Customer service, you better believe they need training-now. I would like to cover five areas. I will read article section...article 3, section 19 dash 3.1, declaration of the purposes and intent.. Two, initial recommendations to stop the long history of incompetence, three, some history of our golf course mess, four, budget, five, suggestions and questions. Number one, here's the second sentence of the county code section 19 dash 3. ]. as follows: the primary intent of this article is to enhance the promotion of the sport of golf for the good of all the people of the county. On July 1, 2009, Dela Cruz, deputy director of park and rec, posted a bill on the bulletin board of the golf course that said twilight begins at three o'clock, period. This is when I began my quest to right some wrongs. The price increase, I probably could not change, but this Gestapo move by the' park and rec is something I could put my watchdog teeth into. Was I willing to pay more for less? Park and rec never consulted with the staff or the concessionaires on this bill they posted on the bulletin board. My initial recommendation to stop the present incompetence to stop the loss of more money and fix the mess we are in, because it just didn't happen by accident, is to fire Rapozo and Dela Cruz. These guys know very little about how the golf course runs, they are not ;;olfers, the staff have never been consulted, pro shop or restaurant or bar were never seen or talked to before the mess, during the mess, or now, with one exception, ~>usan, who they ignored initially. And with minimum knowledge, these guys made decisions and did not make decisions that directly affected the mess we are in today, even after they were alerted to the mess because of their pseudo rule changes, they failed to do anything, so was like a passenger on a sinking ship alerting the first; mate... Ms. Kawahara: Sir... Hi. I finally heard my beeper, so when that... I heard my beeper, so there's three more minutes. Thank you. Mr. Hansen: So was like a sinking ship where the... alerting the first mate Rapozo where the hole was, and Rapozo does not tell the captain Bernard, or the owner city council, or the taxpayers the passengers, that the ship is sinking, and complicitly lets the ship sink. At this point, my question is, what qualifications were these guys hired and who hired them? These guys. have no golf course management skills, no staff relationship skills, no budget skills, no 5 promotional skills, because- the twilight change and the cost increases, these guys cost us a minimum of $28,000 lost revenue per month after month after month for 8 months, totaling $22.4;000. These guys are .glaringly incompetent. In fact, they're minus incompetent. Rapozo said oh it's cost control's fault for raising the prices. I say it is the responsibility of the director to be on top of things-the lbudget, his staff who he neglected to consult, doing research and directing cost control, which I understand is a voluntary, he should be directing them, then the things that are not. working to get on it and fix it as soon as possible. He did nothing but blame others. As soon as ,I found out that twilight rule was misinterpreted because of a typographical errors, I went over to Rapozo and said, type it over. and change the rule back and people will start playing twilight again.. He said I can't do that, I would have to run it by the lawyer, and being an amendment, public hearing, I'm not going to do that, the rule stands. Can you imagine the. arrogant ignorance? So I called (inaudible) Councilperson, got an appont...made up an amendment.._gave it to (inaudible), discussed the mess she was not aware o£ In fact, NJ[r. Cunningham contacted Mr. Bynum and they didn't know that this was happening either. Mr. Furfaro: I will correct you on that, sir, at -the end of the meeting. Mr. Cunningham: It .was out in the (inaudible). Rapozo should have been a fast track a long time-.ago. Rapozo three times -got an amendment and verbal petition and got signatures. I met with Rapozo and was ignored, wrote a petitioner letter, circulated at the park and rec, Councilmembers, sent it to -tree newspaper. I talked many times to Susan and the restaurant last year and other staff members. They said their hands. were tied; they. know I spoke to from the top of the county to the bottom, (inaudible). The budget. I acquired. the golf course budget and wanted to go over some items. Rapozo wasn't interested in. Furthermore, he said that's up to the cost control. I have been director three times-school for boys, YMCA, and others... Ms. Kawahara: Mr. Cunningham: Ms. Kawahara Mr. Cunningham: Mr. Kawahara Are you wrapping up? ...budget and staff. Yes. Thank you so much. ... made a mockery of both. Thank you Mr. Cunningham: I want to point out we're paying $35,000 for sand imported from Taiwan. I said we could find some sand somewhere else... Ms. Kawahara: Another six pages... 6 Mr. Cunningham: (inaudible) he did not want to discuss this. When I asked what the $555,000 other costs and service, he said he didn't want to argue about this. He said... Well look, I spent seven months on thus and I get six minutes. I want to finish. I spent a lot of time on this, more time than you people have, and I get six minutes. You're going to have to pull me out of the chair. Ms. Kawahara: Okay. Mr. Cunningham: You just shrug. I also point (inaudible)... Ms. Kawahara: I am requesting for Mr. Wyn the document so we can have his full testimony. Call the committee back into session. I'm requesting that Mr. Cunningham give me his testimony to be sure that I have hiss .testimony, it's submitted, and give it to all the councilmembers. Mr. Furfaro: She will take it right here. Ms. Kawahara: We'll take it from you. Thank you. I do want to agree to clarify that the bill is back in front of us, whatever the i s~~ues that citizens have brought up to us. So we heard you loud and clear and that's why the bill has been placed here and we're looking at doing something to address the fees, and also I'm glad to hear that we've worked on twilight hours. I believe we still have more people coming to testify. Mr. Clerk? Mr. Nakamura: Next speaker is Glenn Tamagawa, i:ollowed by June Araki. GLENN TAMAGAWA: I'll wake everyone up. On behalf' of myself as a concessionaire at the golf course, once you have... At Wailua golf course is a gold mine, as you know. You know how much money the golf course makes and how much, at the same time, it is not making. Mr. Furfaro just mentioned something about ATM machine at the golf shop. I've consulted the bank, but obviously the bank would like to have more control coming in and out of the golf shop in order for that to happen. That's the reason why I don't have that there. At the same time, I would like the county, instead of having greater admission at the registration office, there have been people come to the golf shop trying to buy stuff and get cash back. I'm not set up for that, so I can't do that. There are a number of itimes where the tourists come into the golf shop and said, how come you don't have a credit card machine. I'll talk to them about that. Mr. Furfaro: A correspondence went over to I.T. asking that question. Mr. Chang and I were totally surprised that it was not a ~~vay to capture a credit card at the golf course, as well as the ATM. If somebody wanted the cash, they had to drive all the way to Hanama'ulu to the 7-Eleven. We were surprised. 7 Mr. Tamagawa: I have a credit card machine,- but I'm not set up to give out cash. A credit machine at the registration office would be a great help to the county for sure. For myself as a concessionaire, I hope this ordinance is passed. My business at the golf shop is solely based on the tourist. There are a lot of locals that come to the golf course. Saturday and Sunday is the slowest day at my golf shop. Right now I'm closed on Saturdays but open on Sundays, and Sundays through Friday, being slow on .Saturdays does not allow me to stay open as I would like to stay open, because of the fact that as mentioned, it was a slow day of the week for myself in the ~ golf shop. Other than the other concessionaires were probably the busiest for them. Probably the other ordinance that's before you concerns the tourists getting their I.D. and there's been a lot of talk around the golf course about tourist coming in with their I.D. and saying... They don't live here. How come they have an I.D. That seems to be a problem ands I hope in the ordinance, this will be passed that more of the tourists will be lookE~d at as tourists and not as residents because they live here and issue them a driver's license just as easy as it is, it seems to me at the moment. I know this isn't on there, but I would encourage you, as well as the county parks and rec, to stop by the golf course, check things out, see how things are going, talk to the concessionaires, which you obviously depend upon to run, to be there for the golfers. One entity or area that actually needs a lot of help is the restaurant itself. Restaurant itself can definitely do a lot o£ . . Ms. Kawahara: Three minutes. Thank you. Mr. Tamagawa: ...restaurant itself can... is in need of definitely some repairs, major repairs.. I think to have it dependent on the concessionaire itself to fix things up... I don't think the county has ever gone in there to fix things up as far as maintenance-wise or of the coolers or refrigeration or 1;hings along the line like that. It just seems to be falling apart lately. So but I encourage you, each of you, and the county parks and recto stop by the golf course, checl~ things out, see how things are going, talk to your concessionaires, see how things a~°e going, instead of waiting for a problem to arise and us to come to you. I just hope that after today's meeting that everything would pass in the ordinance and that hopefully we'll be much happier. Thank you. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. If you could just stay for us ~.. I just wanted to let you know that we're aware of the issue with the I.D.s and it's a statewide problem where tourists are getting a second license, and I know from the State level, when I last spoke to them that they have issues, they are not clear on how to handle it. They are getting the second licenses easily, so it's something that we do have to deal with. Thank you. Chair. Council Chair Asing: Thank you. 8 Ms. Kawahara: I'm sorry, comment? Mr. Tamagawa: I have more comments. Ms. Kawahara: I'm sorry. I'm talking to my councilmembers, thank you. I'm sorry, you're not recognized. Mr. Kawakami? I'm going to recognize Mr. Kawakami. Mr. Kawakami: Thank you. I just want to clarify so that... You know, the ATM machine, is that your responsibility to go get one? You tried to get one, but the bank would like to see more traffic going in the shopping-parking component of a business? Because you know there's independent contractors right now. If the bank is not going to supply one, there are different venders you might want to inquire of them, because they make the money off the surcharge. I know their fees, initial fee to have it in the shop can be quite high yeah. 'You might want to see if there's opportunity there. But you bring up a good point onto credit card machines, because a big market of golfers golf to negotiate some kind of business transaction, and a lot of the businessmen will not go to Wailua because they cannot use a credit card. So they cannot really write it off as a business expense. So you're losing that market right there. As without having a credit card machine, that's a good point you brought up to think about that kind of thing. Thank you. Ms. Kawahara: Councilmember Bynum? Mr. Bynum: Thank you for your testimony. Mr. Tamagawa: Sure. Mr. Bynum: How long have you been at the golf course? Mr. Tamagawa: Since 2005. Mr. Bynum: I used to frequent Wailua golf course and I think your admonition is correct. In my case, I haven't been there fir too long and checked it out because I believe it is an extremely wonderful thing for the County of Kauai to have. I just wanted to let you know that the questions I'm asking because I think all of the testimony we heard is correct that there was certainly unintended consequences. But the questions I'm asking whether we can, in this bill, do two things: one is allow the golf course to set the twilight times and not have it be part of the ordinance, and the other is to, I'm not sure if we cari do this, but I'm inquiring, is to set the fees, give them... empower them within a range of these, so they can respond to changing market conditions, In fairness to MMr. Rapozo, it is really difficult in .the county to change things. We've got to do a kill and do these public hearings and go through time. So I don't know what the answers I'll get, but I'd like to be able to give them a range because the economy changed and I think 9 private courses reduce their rates, put in twilights, make them more .competitive with Wailua, and we need to be able to change with those market conditions as well. So I just want to say that I apologize for having not met you sooner. I feel really remiss that concessionaire since 2005 and we haven't met. Mr. Tamagawa: I've seen you around. Mr. Bynum: Thank you very much. Mr. Tamagawa: Thank you. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. We have further... Councilmember Chang. Mr. Chang: Thank you actually. I just wanted to let you know, hopefully she will be released... As far as the ATM machine, I think it's going in, because when you say the banks, there's not enough action, they don't know because when the visitor or business person comes, I think they're relatively shocked that you don't have an ATM, number one, or credit card machine ' I think we're working on that, but to me, the worse thing about it is when you finally find Wailua, whether driving in the traffic from the north or driving from the traffic south or west, when you finally get to the golf course, you're shocked to say you either go up north to Foodland or Safeway or you cut back to Hanama'ulu ,and look for the 7-Eleven. That's just a bad experience directly from the staY•t. In regards to the license, as Councilmember Kawahara was saying, it's a statewide problem. Oh my God I lost my license, just landed...there are ways that are being looked at presently, such as where is your voter registration for primary election or the general election, and other ways to do that, and you might have some ideas about your motor vehicle registration. But if you're a local resident, get to the visor of your car or glove compartment versus you don't have a motor vehicle registration in a rental car, but you would have it in your transportation. So there are things that are being addressed at this time.. So hopefully, we can help yourself and the rest of the vendors here at the golf course. Thank you for what you do. I know it's been tough. It has been. Ms. Kawahara: Any questions? Mr. Nakamura: Next speaker is June Araki, followed by Susan Yamamoto. Ms. Kawahara: I have a list here that I'm going through, and people get to go first because you. had your time. My timer... Identify yourself. JUNE ARAKI: June Araki. I came here because of the section 2, number 8, senior Kauai residents. I feel that they should leave the ordinance as is for the senior and super senior category. The driver's license should. not be'added as 10 one of the requirements for the .lower rate. It is my understanding that the senior rates were originally created to help our local kupuna. They felt they should be given the lower rate during their retirement years as after having paid state taxes all of their working lives. I think it is a privilege that they have rightfully earned. It's nice seeing the kupuna coming out for exercise, fresh air, and socializing with their friends. In the past, nonresident seniors have benefited from the lower senior rate that should have been reserved for the local kupuna. The smart ones who know that they are not full-time residents have willingly agreed to pay the sixty dollars monthly resident card. They know they are still getting a fantastic deal. It's just a handful that still insist on getting the super senior card even if they do not qualify, they have not voted and have not filed a Hawaii tax return. There was one golfer tried to get the super senior card by repeatedly coming to the golf course to see if one of the cashiers would give it to him. In frustration, he asked to see the boss and made the mistake of .saying remember me, Mr. X from California? He didn't even realize his error until it was too late. Another gentleman asked for five day nonresident card when he was told he no longer qualified for senior card. He didn't wait to hear he qualified .for a monthly resident card with they driver's license. Customers claim they don't drive, only to sport an out of state license when they open up their wallets. There are blatant examples of dishonesty. Out of state golfers boasted that their new licenses are hot off the press. More and more nonresidents are finding out that they can qualify for cheap golf b;y changing their driver's license to Hawaii driver's license. Some even have Hawaii driver's license with a mainland or international address. Some transplant locals have even encouraged their mainland friends to get a Hawaii license while they are here so they could qualify for the local rates. Changing the requirements for the handful that grumble should not justify the change. The burden of Hawaii residency status should be borne by the person, not the government. The golf fees were raised last July and now they are trying to lower the nonresident rate. By allowing the driver's license as one of the requirements for the senior and super senior rate; you are further lowering the revenue. How do you justify a nonresident qualifying for a senior... super senior rate just because they have a Hawaii driver's license? It appears that it is being done at the expense of the regular monthly resident cardholder. Why should the legitimate local resident pay sixty dollars a month to play when the senior nonresident qualifies for the twenty-six dollars or forty dollars card under the new proposal? Shouldn't you be fair to the local residents who pay their taxes and support the local economy the entire-year? The resiidents as defined by the State tax law is every individual domiciled in Hawaii for more than 200 days during the taxable year. It is someone who resides in Hawaii for other than a temporary or transitory purpose. Having a Hawaii driver's license does mot make you a Hawaii resident and should not be included to prove that they qualify for the senior and super senior rates. Mr. Furfaro: Could we get a copy of her testimony? 11 Ms. Kawahara: We would like a copy of your testimony and our clerk will help you with that. Thank you. Ms. Araki: Thank you very much. Mr. Furfaro: Thank you very much. Ms. Kawahara: Could I ask you a quick question, please? Do you have any idea or constructive idea about what should be used instead of a driver's license? Do we have something else that's officially generated by government that will qualify somebody as a resident saying that they're here more than 200 days or that they're permanent resident. Ms. Araki: You have the State tax return. Ms. Kawahara: State tax return, yeah. Tax return will do that. Ms. Araki: Nonresident files state tax returns? Nonresidents, if they do have some income coming from Hawaii, would be filing (inaudible) resident. Ms. Kawahara: Residency that we show state tax returns at the office? Ms. Araki: It is one of the requirements now. By putting in the driver's license for the senior rate, you open it up again to nonresidents being able to qualify for a rate when they're not residents. Thank you. Ms. Kawahara: Any of my Councilmembers have a question? Mr. Furfaro: Chairwoman, I would like to just point out for the audience, this is a scheduled public hearing, we try to keep the Q and A at a minimum, because from the public hearing, we're going to get a general overview of the issues when the bill comes up. The bill will come up in your committee, I believe on April 7. That's the date for the audience that will be in Councilwoman Kawahara's committee. I will limit my questions or at least my massaging the misinformation to a minimum. We should only be accepting testimony. My curiosity gets the best of me. So thank you for letting me do that. Ms. Kawahara: I have on my list, Mr. Furfaro is exactly right. Do I have anybody else? Mr. Nakamura: Next speaker is Susan Yamamoto followed by Larry Blow. 12 SUSAN YAMAMOTO: My name is Susan Yamamoto. I'm here as a golfer. I've been golfing since `97 and I'm not a senior or super senior according to the age, and so I'm talking on the driver's licenses to prove residency for the seniors and super seniors because then the snow birds or nonresidents would be qualifying for a lower rate than I'm paying. I don't think that's fair. Right now, I think they can qualify for the fifty dollars rate which is what I pay, and I'm for that if snowbirds (inaudible). But as far as adding on the four or the Hawaii driver's license for the senior and super senior, that part I'm against and hoping that you will think about it and really consider that when you vote. . Ms. Kawahara: Thank you very much. Any other testifiers on that? Mr. Larry Little. Did he decide that he wasn't going to? Do you still not want to? Mr. Bloom? Okay. LARRY BLOW: My name is Larry Blow. I live in Kapa'a. I want to just mention one thing in regard to lost rounds at Wailua. Obviously, some of the rounds were lost because of the raise in the rate. We also have fewer tourists. So if you don't have tourists, you don't have tourist rounds. At first, I became interested in Wailua seriously when they had the meetings this last fall. In regard to the rates, I became aware of the difficult financial position of the golf course. Wailua is a treasure that has to be reserved and financed, and reason I wanted to speak today. is to make you aware of the large amount of money that's being lost because you have nonresidents paying resident rate. Many of the nonresidents as Susan stated are actually paying lower rates than some of the residents, and this makes for a very sensitive issue. Visitors are coming here, 3 to 5 months in. timeshare or whatever conditions. They pick up a driver's license and they get the resident rate. Fact of the matter is they're not paying the rate they are expected to pay. Regulations, rules and regulations, in order to work need to be uniformly enforced and they need to be followed. If you don't follow them, and if it's not uniform, you might as well not have a regulation. Irregularities that I've noted: I've played with golfers that have (inaudible) driver's license. They say that they just use their Kauaiian driver's license to get their local rate while they're here. I've played with other national ties that are not American citizens that get the local rate. They have family here. They register a car that they-use while they're here with their family and they get a driver's license and they get the local rate. One local resident for unknown reasons even encourages nonresidents to go get a driver's license. If you want to get verification for that, you can check that out with the marshal at the golf course. He's seen this in operation. With this proposal, what we'll do, we'll make a bad situation worse. Mr. Nakamura: Three minutes committee chair. Ms. Kawahara: Three minutes left. 13 Mr. Blow: Thank you. In the wording, it says income tax, voter registration, or Hawaiian driver's license.. The word "or" makes it an alternative. It should not say "or." You'd be better off to have no reference to driver's license at all. That would be my first recommendation, but definitely, change "or" to "and." That makes it a multiple verification for residency. If you don't start collecting the rates and the amounts that you're expecting to collect, your deficit will increase. That will mean that you have to do one or two things: raise -the resident's rate, which is difficult but could be done, or be a bigger burden to the taxpayers which is extremely difficult. The deficit will remain if you don't collect what you're expecting to collect at Wailua; it needs the money to maintain the quality of course that it is. Ms. Kawahara: Thank you. Comments. Thank you very much. Is there anybody in the public that has not spoken on this bill yet? If not, I will adjourn this committee hearing. Thank you. There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing adjourned at .2:34 p.m. Respectfully submitted; :~.~~~ PETER A. NAKAMURA County Clerk /ao 14