Property tax assessments come under fire again
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Staff Writer
With the assessed value of O'ahu properties increasing 6.64 percent over last year, city officials expect a flood of appeals before the deadline Wednesday.
Wednesday is the deadline to appeal real property tax assessments. Appeals can be filed with the board of review at the Real Property Assessment Division office, 842 Bethel St., or at Kapolei Hale, 1000 Uluohia St. Mailed appeals must be postmarked by midnight Wednesday. The forms can be picked up at the assessment office or downloaded from www.co.honolulu.hi.us/rpa
The total value of properties rose to $95.1 billion from $89.2 billion last year. The assessments will form the basis of property taxes this year. Higher assessments mean higher property taxes, unless the city changes the tax rate.
Appeals due Wednesday
City spokeswoman Carol Costa said 238 appeals had been filed as of Thursday, but the city expects more. Last year, it received 4,474 appeals, just under 2 percent of the 240,000 residential property owners, she said. The city usually receives appeals from about 1 percent of residential property owners.
It does not keep statistics on how many appeals are successful.
On Thursday, a day after the deadline to appeal, City Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi's Budget Committee will hold an informational session to hear from the city real property assessment division about how the property values were calculated.
"Is it arbitrary? Are they just trying to balance the budget?" Kobayashi said. "We're just trying to know their method."
She noted that it was the second year in a row that higher assessments created an uproar. Last year, the department said new software brought everybody up to the correct value. "What happened this year?" she said.
Thursday was the Budget Committee's first scheduled meeting since the assessments were mailed out last month.
About 50 property owners have left messages with Kobayashi in recent weeks expressing concern about increases in the assessed value of their property.
"There have been many people that said they've gone up by as much as 100 percent," Kobayashi said.
O'ahu is in the midst of the hottest real estate boom since the late 1980s, and assessments have gone up in many neighborhoods because of rapidly rising market values. Median sales prices for single-family homes rose 12 percent between 2001 and 2002, and condominium prices rose 17 percent.
Still, some homeowners say they believe their assessments are far above actual market value.
Gail Morgan expects the city to adjust the value of her Waikiki condominium unit, but she is frustrated at having to go through the appeal. The assessed value of her one-bedroom apartment on Ala Wai Boulevard rose to $138,400, from $94,400 last year, she said.
For Morgan, who receives an $80,000 exemption because she is older than 60, that translates to a 93 percent increase in property taxes, which will rise to $358.42 from $185.49 last year.
She says she and other residents in the Ala Wailani condominium expect assessed values to rise, but she disagrees with how.
When she called the city for clarification, she learned one-bedroom units in her building were being compared with the ones next door. But that building has a pool, laundry facilities in each unit, and secured covered parking, while her building does not.
Morgan said apartments in her building have sold recently for $120,000. She believes property owners should not have to pay $25 and appear before a board because of the city's error.
The informational hearing on property tax assessment will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday in the City Council committee room at Honolulu Hale.
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8090.
