Fees, tax for trash service undesired

By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer

Most O'ahu residents don't want to pay increased taxes or new fees for garbage collection, and don't want the city to borrow money to pay for faster road repairs, according to a poll commissioned by the City Council.

But the telephone survey of 1,019 residents from all over the island found many open to paying more for other things, such as programs for children and the maintenance of city parks.

The $24,000 survey is the first of its kind for the city, and is meant to help guide long-range planning and spending priorities, council chairman Donovan Dela Cruz said.

He said the data will be provided to Mayor-elect Mufi Hannemann so he can consider it while putting together proposals for the city's annual budget.

Conducted in mid-October by Ward Research Inc., the poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent, meaning a survey of all O'ahu residents would not likely produce a result more than 3.1 percentage points above or below the poll's findings.

The poll found that 67 percent of respondents believe "the Legislature should allow the city more flexibility in raising money," but it's unclear whether that translates into wide support for new fees or taxes.

The question was meant to measure support for a longstanding city appeal for a bigger chunk of revenue collected by the state, from sources such as the hotel room tax, according to council members who oversaw the poll.

"I hope that the Legislature, which shares constituents with us, will at least acknowledge these results," said council planning committee chairwoman Barbara Marshall.

The question was also meant to gauge whether residents believe the city should have more authority to create its own fees and taxes, she said.

"We tried very hard to make these questions very neutral," Councilwoman Barbara Marshall said. "The point is, no matter what we try to do, we're constrained by the Legislature."

Sen. Colleen Hanabusa said she believes the results would have been very different if the question had been more explicit.

"If you ask people whether they want to give the city more taxing authority, you'll really see what that response is going to be," said Hanabusa, D-21st (Nanakuli, Makaha). "I don't think people want to give anyone more taxing authority."

The poll was more direct in asking whether the city should charge user fees to help pay for park maintenance, and found that 43 percent supported the idea. The poll also found that 45 percent believe users should pay more for senior and children's programs, botanical gardens, and other recreational services.

"There are a lot of people who are willing to pay extra taxes or increased fees for some services," Marshall said.

The council last year approved a bill that allows the city to charge park user fees for organized sporting events, but the city administration has not implemented it, city spokeswoman Carol Costa said.

The poll found that only 21 percent of respondents were willing to pay new fees for trash pickup, and that just 27 percent favored borrowing more to speed up street repaving.

Councilman Gary Okino said he believed the poll should also have asked what services residents would prefer be cut in the event of a money shortfall.

The poll found that 52 percent of residents oppose the city's condominium leasehold conversion law, which the council is considering repealing.

Forty-three percent of those polled support the law, known as Chapter 38, which lets the city force landowners to sell to qualified condominium owners the fee interest in the land under their units.

Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.

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