2010-11-03 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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whatever it is. For someone to be a million dollars or more delinquent, I think that’s pretty extreme. I’m just wondering why someone like that, a commercial hauler can get away without having any consequences. MS. O’HARA: It sounded though from their explanation, a lot of it has to do with technology. They don’t have the operations as a scale house software with the billing to be able to stop – I mean a garbage hauler that goes three million dollars doesn’t have just one truck load. They have many. And they’re coming in at the scale houses in both sides of the island. So you would have to have that integration to be able to police it within the department is my understanding. I think that’s what is preventing that and I had said before you came back in the room. MR. TAKABA: Or maybe a hauler could be licensed. I’m not sure what they do now, but maybe if the hauler had an annual renewal fee or a renewal process that they have to go through, and part of it is making sure they’re in good standing. MS. O’HARA: Yes, I agree. I made the same suggestion about wastewater side. MR. TAKABA: Then at least the most you go is one year delinquent. MS. O’HARA: Right. And it provides a source of revenue to deal with the regulatory side. MS. WONG: The most stunning fact that I heard was $15 million in delinquencies. And I started trying to wonder where can we find that money. My guess is that a lot of these delinquencies are senior citizens or people that lost their jobs or something. For some reason, they’re not paying. Some just don’t want to pay. So, if there are reasonable reasons why they’re not paying, perhaps they’re ill, perhaps they’re all of these. That could be funding that we could find to supplement them so that it could get paid. Off hand does anyone know of anything? MS. O’HARA: I don’t think that’s the cause of that. MS. WONG: What do you think it is? MS. O’HARA: It’s the foreclosures that are moving into the market. MS. WONG: But why are they foreclosing? They don’t have money. And why do they not have money? MS. O’HARA: The bills are not being paid. The county legally has to sit on it for three years before they can foreclose on it. But in terms of what’s happening to the real estate market nationally, foreclosures are flooding the market and it’s because people are not able to make the payments, and are not paying taxes. MS. NICHOLSON: And so that figure will probably go up. MS. O’HARA: It will and it’s going to continue for another three to four years before we clear that from the economy. 27