Posted at 3:37 p.m., Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Maui mayor proposes tax cuts
By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau
Proposed tax-rate cuts include 15.5 percent on the homeowner tax rate, and 10.4 percent on the improved residential and apartment tax rates.
The fiscal year 2005-2006 budget proposal includes 56 new positions, including police radio dispatchers, three staffers to help develop a mass transit system and several employees to man new satellite driver's licensing offices in Pukalani, Kihei and Lahaina.
The mayor also proposed investing $2 million in the start-up of a four-year college program at Maui Community College, and $90 million in capital improvements, including $20 million in water system upgrades and $10.5 million for the acquisition of the One Main Plaza office building in Wailuku for expansion of county offices.
The budget estimates $417.3 in total revenue, up 13.6 percent from the current fiscal year's revenue of $367 million.
This increase is based mainly on a 23.3 percent increase in real property values in the county, up $5.3 billion from the current year to $28 billion.
