HomeMy WebLinkAbout 05/13/2015 Public hearing transcript on RES#2015-26 PUBLIC HEARING
MAY 13, 2015
A public hearing of the Council of the County of Kaua`i was called to order by
Arryl Kaneshiro, Chair, Budget & Finance Committee, on Wednesday, May 13, 2015,
at 5:00 p.m., at the Council Chambers, 4396 Rice Street, Suite 209, Lihu`e, Kaua`i,
and the presence of the following was noted:
Honorable Mason K. Chock
Honorable Gary L. Hooser
Honorable Ross Kagawa
Honorable KipuKai Kuali`i
Honorable Mel Rapozo
Honorable JoAnn A. Yukimura
Honorable Arryl Kaneshiro
The Clerk read the notice of the public hearing on the following:
"Resolution No. 2015-26—RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING THE REAL
PROPERTY TAX RATES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR JULY 1, 2015 TO
JUNE 30, 2016 FOR THE COUNTY OF KAUAI,"
which was ordered to print by the Council of the County of Kaua`i on
March 25, 2015, and published in The Garden Island newspaper on
April 1, 2015.
SCOTT K. SATO, Deputy County Clerk: We have one registered speaker
and that is Felicia Cowden.
The hearing proceeded as follows:
FELICIA COWDEN: I am going to speak to the general look at real
property taxes. In the past year, we have spoken to how important it is to renovate
the whole system and I want to underscore that that is a very strident need.
Certainly, for this next tax year, we are too close to the date to be able to do that
renovation, but I think we should be positioning ourselves for exactly that. Currently,
we are basically filling our County coffers with placing our highest tax on the non-
resident investor. That is much higher, I think that you can see in areas like where I
live on the North Shore. We are having an influx of very, very wealthy...and there is
another development intended to market to ten million dollars ($10,000,000) a unit
that is high. It might feel good that we are sticking it to the people that have it to pay
who do not even live there, that is called taxation without representation, but my
warning is that we do not become dependent on that. When we have an area like...I
do not even want to single one out, but when we have big purchases for a lot of money
with people who do not even use the services, of course that feels good, but we will
want more of that. That is a trend that is happening in the world, in these high
desired places. My worry is that Kaua`i risks becoming like Lana`i, a place where the
rich live and those who serve them. When I even hear terms like "workforce housing,"
I cringe a little bit because that is like putting the residents to a service modality and
we might think that there can be collateral damage like the Po`ipn area or Hanalei,
but it is going to creep and crossover. I live in those areas and I do not want to be the
collateral damage. I know that it is like holding back the tide because we have this
PUBLIC HEARING 2 MAY 13, 2015
RESOLUTION NO. 2015-26
disparity happening globally. We have high wealth that is coming and landing here,
but we really need to look at how we do this stuff and not just be doing ad valorem
taxing. We need to get a consultant or somebody from somewhere else where it is
working, so we do not basically have residents who can no longer that can afford to
be here. Thank you.
Committee Chair Kaneshiro: Thank you. Anyone else in the audience
wishing to testify on this?
There being no further testimony on this matter, the public hearing
adjourned at 5:05 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
SCOTT K. ATO
Deputy County Clerk
:dmc