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<br /> <br />more training has occurred, more clarity has occurred and team work has <br />occurred”, he also said, “it’s amazing progress very impressed with the lack of <br />defense posturing, that once these complaints came in, and they were <br />brought forth, people decided to be transparent and not hide a thing”. <br />· Mr. Sitko said employees are getting 30 hours of IAAO training, they have <br />individual specialty classes, the geographic systems are being reassessed <br />and how employees are being trained a little more across the board. <br />· Hawai‘i is joining three other counties in regards to the Hawai‘i IAAO Chapter; <br />Hawai‘i County will work with other neighbor islands to put more <br />professionalism in assessing properties. Mr. Sitko said that by having the <br />professional audit, hopefully it will have time and not duplicate efforts. <br />· Their computer system has been upgraded; took three years for the upgrade. <br />· According to a July 2014 West Hawai‘i Today article from the Task Force, <br />basically the people don’t have to file state tax claims or a tax report to keep <br />their exemptions. <br />· The complaint received is that older people and people who do not speak <br />English well or able to read well are going to have a problem complying with <br />the tax exemption. <br />· Mr. Mitchell feels a recommendation is these tax exemptions not hurt the poor <br />and the elderly and the people who do not speak English well; those tax <br />exemptions are for people who literally are claiming dead people. There were <br />1,200 cases of people getting the exemptions by claiming dead people. <br />· The poor and elderly will need help filing out these state tax forms and tax <br />files; they are the ones getting harmed by this change. Mr. Mitchell does not <br />think this tax exemption was meant to hurt the poor and elderly. <br /> <br />Ms. Maddox asked if what Mr. Mitchell is concerned about is the <br />recommendation that people have to file new tax forms that they may not have had to <br />file in the past in order to maintain the exemption; that particular mechanism may be <br />onerous. Mr. Mitchell replied very much so. He does not believe the intent of this <br />updated issue is to harm the elderly and poor; likely, these people are not trying to <br />protect properties that have very high value but people who have simply made a <br />mistake, a misunderstanding and not trying to defraud the state for large amounts of <br />money. <br /> <br /> Ms. Maddox understands that at the moment, the County is going to move <br />forward with this recommendation. Mr. Mitchell replied yes, he thinks this is a little <br />onerous to the people who are really going to have a struggle and does not believe they <br />are looking to defraud anyone. <br /> <br /> Ms. Kelly stated that not to discriminate against the public but should there be an <br />age bracket where if you are over a certain age, you are not required to be filling out <br />these forms for an exemption. Mr. Mitchell replied that is a possibility; he stated the <br />elderly people simply don’t understand the material and some form of help should be <br />provided. They will have to be careful on the wording so that it is not discriminatory. <br /> <br /> Ms. Kelly brought up an example with TSA at the airport; there is bulletin that <br />states if you are over 75 or born before a certain date, you are not required to take off <br />your shoes. <br /> <br />4 <br /> <br />