Big Island confronts budget crunch
By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau
HILO, Hawai'i — Calling Hawai'i County's budget shortfall a "crisis situation," Mayor Harry Kim proposed to give county workers seven days a year without pay to avoid laying off employees.
Kim said yesterday he has met with union leaders to discuss his proposal to deal with the loss of tax revenue since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
If the unions balk, he said he will be forced to lay off workers.
Kim did not say how many of the county's 2,000 workers would be placed on furlough or how many would be laid off if the furlough proposal is turned down.
But he said public safety is "our highest priority" and said police officers would not be asked to go on furlough and would not be laid off.
The county faces a $1.5 million shortfall in its $196 million spending plan for the current fiscal year and could face an additional shortfall of at least $1.5 million because of the drop in its share of the hotel room tax, according to county officials.
Kim's remarks followed a five-hour meeting of the County Council's Finance Committee, which postponed voting on a proposal to raise about $2.4 million a year by increasing the minimum amount of property taxes paid on more than 61,000 lots. The minimum amount property owners pay is $25, but it would be raised to $100 under the proposal.
It would affect only those owners who pay less than $100 in property taxes, except for disabled veterans and owners of about 1,600 lava lots in Puna who would be exempt from the increase.
The committee voted 5-4 to defer the issue until early next year.
Kim, who lobbied for the plan, said the proposal was a first step in reforming Big Island property taxes.
Council Chairman Jimmy Arakaki and Puna Councilman Gary Safarik led the move to delay the matter. They were joined by Kohala's Leningrad Elarionoff, Puna's Julie Jacobson and Finance Committee Chairman Aaron Chung.
Those wanting a decision yesterday were Hilo's Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd, Hamakua's Dominic Yagong, Kona's Nancy Pisicchio and Curtis Tyler III of Kona.
During the meeting, at least one person said even the $25 tax was too high. Coco Pierson of the Royal Gardens Community Association, where 1,400 one-acre lots are isolated, said a moratorium on all taxes should be imposed until their lots become usable. "Twenty-five dollars is still much for useless property," he said.
Pierson said he cannot afford to give his lots to the county. And if he doesn't pay his tax bill, he will be listed as a delinquent taxpayer in statewide newspaper advertisements "and appear to be a scofflaw."
