MIN CHARTER 2019-06-21 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -11 June 21, 2019 aside two percent of property taxes each year. That is why we took the step to set aside a quarter percent which is $700,000 each year. Two percent of property taxes is $5 million dollars a year. The land fund is not working as well as it should. We have been over testifying in front of you asking for one full-time person to consistently work only on the land fund program which is CA -9, because there is $22 million dollars sitting in the fund. There have been almost 20... 200 properties proposed by citizens for purchase. Only 14 properties have been acquired. Only one-third of the money spent to purchase land has been in matching funds. At least 50% could be in matching funds. To maximize the potential of the existing land fund. Only nine percent of monies deposited in the maintenance fund have been received by the non -profits. How can we do better? By hiring one full-time person to work only on the 2% Land Fund Program, and by allowing the stewardship groups to pay people to work on the land. There are seven... 371 people that sent in testimony on CA -7, CA -8, CA -13, and 27. I counted each one. There are at least 20 people that took time out of their days to attend at least 10 of the Charter Commission meetings, so that's 200 people. This is the largest group that came out to testify on anything by far. We have asked over and over again to allow the stewardship groups to be able to pay people on the land. Now we have to go to the County Council and ask them for help. How does this serve the people of the island? On CA -9, we requested that you use the clarifying language so that only one person is hired to work full- time on the Land Fund. We will run a just say no campaign because we don't want the Land Fund to be depleted of purchasing power by salaries, wages, and benefits by more than one staff person. That is in addition to the one provided to help PONC (Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission) in the Code. The Save our Lands Citizen's Committee has proposed this since October, and if you see on your list, it will show you how much each of these positions will be paid -$88,248 or $58,000, so we don't want to deplete the Land Fund of more than one salary. The existing language is very ambiguous. What we asked for is in red and just below the job descriptions, so... and that's to pay for the salary, wages, and benefits of one full-time staff member employed by the Department of Finance, dedicated only to administering the activities contained within this Section and Section 16 of the Charter. This is in addition to a staff person provided for in the Hawai`i County Code, to assist the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Commission. Okay, on to CA -18, we asked over and over again if you could please allow people to be paid to work on the land. There's a check on this. A safety check that we put into the process. The Department of Finance and the County Council have to approve their stewardship grant proposal. If they violate this, they will never be allowed to apply for grants in the future. So we are asking for the portion in red that says unless they are paid for duties that are a part of the approved stewardship grant proposal to be added to the existing language. In Page 3