I wrote the following to the county council:

I own a condominium at Kona by the Sea on Alii Drive. I purchased it with the hopes of someday retiring to Kona.

We have owned there for about ten years. This property complex is primarily used for vacation rental with about 80% of the units participating in the rental pool. When we originally purchased we were running about $400-500 per month negative cash flow based on the income we were able to receive by renting the property. Normally with most rental properties the cash flow gets better with time. After ten years our negative cash flow is in excess of $1000-1500 per month.

After reading about the proposed property tax increase on this type of property I feel a need to voice my strong opposition to this proposal. With non-owner occupied properties already paying almost double owner occupied property rates this puts an additional burden on those of us who vacation rent our properties and make tourism possible.

As I am sure you are already aware there has been a drastic reduction in the tourism industry already. We have seen our rates drop in excess of 30% over the last several years as well as the occupancy rate go into a free fall. The county should be doing everything it can to attract tourist to Hawaii, not placing further taxes on us and therefore driving up rental rates to make a Hawaii visit less and less attractive to the people you need to generate business revenues.

I do understand the principal of trying to maintain your current revenue levels by adjusting the rate up as the values fall. However as a property owner, we are watching our earnings drop along with the value of our property. We have seen several units in our complex go into foreclosure. Raising property taxes on this type of property will do nothing but increase the probability of more units going into foreclosure, causing property values to fall further. As this happens are we going to again raise taxes to offset the values of free falling real estate values?

As far as us non-owner occupied property owners being able to afford it, you need to keep in mind the country is in a recession. My personal income has dropped drastically. I am in a struggle to keep my bills current and my mortgage paid. I can assure you I cannot afford additional taxes. I also cannot afford to sell my property at the reduced price I can get for it today.

I would encourage the county council to once again review its budget and look for places to further reduce costs. I have noticed for some reason it seems like the police in Hawaii always seen to travel in pairs. I have never seen this on other parts of the country. I would be willing to bet some drastic reductions could be made there.

Thank you for your consideration.

For those of you with rental properties on the Big Island it might be a good idea to voice your concerns to the county council. But please hurry as I believe this goes to vote tomorrow.

Thanks for this Todd! Would you kindly post the address where to write the council?

Mahalo,
Dave

Nicely written Todd, but you were too gentle. I recently wrote three letters to the editor of West Hawaii Today about this subject, all three were published. (Here is the last one http://westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2010/06/05/opinion/letters_-_your_voice/letters04.txt to read) The biggest problem is that they just try to justify the increase and don't work on balancing or reducing the budget at all! Did you know that the county budget increased by 113% during 2002 and 2009? Did you know that the number of county employees increased by 50% during this very same period? Welcome to the Peoples Republic of Hawaii!

The sad truth is all government budgets are hurting and they could care less how they got there and the only solution they can see is for you and I to pay more.

I don't get to tell my boss hey I was not very good at managing my money you need to give me more. Yeah like that will work. So why does the Gov. think it is OK?

We are seeing it in WA as well. We didn't buy a vacation rental because we didn't want to deal with all of the issues that come with them. All that really means is any tax increase hits us directly, no renter to impact just us. I may just need to move there sooner so I can reduce my taxes.

I'm hoping this is the correct address, but cannot swear to it. It was the closest thing I gould find on the county website:

counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us

I've always said if I ever start another business it will be a government. They always seem to make more money off my business than I do.

Talk about “biting the hand that feed you!” What do these government idiots think a 30% tax increase is going to do to the tourist/vacation home industry. Last I knew this was the number one industry in the whole state. A majority of locals depend on mainlanders “vacation dollars” for their livelihood. Jack up the cost to stay in Hawaii in this screwed up economy, and I’m going to say adios Big Island, I’m going to Cabo.
John is correct. The answer is cut government spending. Start with cutting the service employee union benefits by 30% or more!!!

How did this play out?

I know for me, it pretty much ends the possibility that I'll buy a vacation home on the BI anytime soon. All my projections were providing a negative cash flow of ~$2K out of the gate.

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/articles/2010/06/09/local_news/local02.txt

The 6 council clowns performed as expected.

Aloha

I already have my tax bill should I hurry up and pay it?

Can someone tell me what this means?

Approved on final reading a bill prohibiting use of public spigot water areas for the loading of water only (and making illegal the washing of cars, boats and pets, for example). The use of these spigots is limited to "the maximum legal weight capacity of the transporting vehicle."

"It's unfortunate it's going to hit West Hawaii hardest," she said. "It's going to hit the families and the rental property owners. Then, it'll trickle down to the renters," she said. "The council majority felt that it was appropriate to raise property taxes, even in this time of economic crisis, when people are losing their jobs."


If there was ever a reason to split the island into two counties, and let the west side be independent of the Hilo bureaucrats. This is it. Outrageous!!!

Nope, you do not have your tax bill, all you have is your tax assessment notice. Time to make the condo a permanent residence for someone in the family.

Funny it came with two separate pieces of paper that looked like staements and return envelopes. Must be different in Hawaii.

And NO way I am going to have my family move in to get the discount. Then where would I stay? I'll just pay the bill and smile. After all it is still pardise.

Approved on final reading a bill prohibiting use of public spigot water areas for the loading of water only (and making illegal the washing of cars, boats and pets, for example). The use of these spigots is limited to "the maximum legal weight capacity of the transporting vehicle."

My assumption: there are some places where water trucks can fill up with water to truck to empty catchment tanks. They have what looks like the old steam locomotive fill spout. They are generally off the side of the road. There is one above Coconut Grove on Kuakini if I am remembering correctly. I assume they must have had a problem with people using them for other purposes. It would certainly be over kill to use for pet or car washing.

It means that while loading water, you must juggle 7 overly ripe solo papaya while singing "Why don't we get drunk and screw?" to a ukulele accompaniment.

Aloha