2017-03-20 Letter to R. Kouchi, J. Souki, J. Tokuda, S. Luke RE: TAT

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JNsulOs ham; Wil Okabe Managing Director Harry Kim - +' "s,,/. i• Mayor -- Barbara J.Kossow +f•:;w:-w;:•r``.• Deputy Managing Director ounf r of A.tt x f`l ( ffIIrr of fir 4L or 25 Aupuni Street,Suite 2603 • Hilo,Hawaii 96720 • (808)961-8211 • Fax(808)961-6553 KONA: 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Hwy.,Bldg.C • Kailua-Kona,Hawai`i 96740 (808)323-4444 • Fax(808)323-4440 March 20, 2017 Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi Honorable Jill Tokuda Senate District 8 Senate District 24 Hawai'i State Capitol, Room 408 Hawai'i State Capitol, Room 207 senkouchi@a.Capitol.hawaii.gov sentokuda(a�capitol.hawaii.gov Honolulu, HI 96813 Honolulu, HI 96813 Honorable Joseph M. Souki Honorable Sylvia Luke House District 8 House District 25 Hawai'i State Capitol, Room 431 Hawai'i State Capitol, Room 306 repsouki©Capitol.hawaii.gov replukea,Capitol.hawaii.gov Honolulu, HI 96813 Honolulu, HI 96813 Dear President Kouchi, Speaker Souki Senator Tokuda and Representative Luke: This is another plea to increase the counties' share of the TAT. When my Finance Director, Collins Tomei, and my aide, Andy Levin, visited the Capitol, Senator Kouchi went into the history of the TAT. He is the "last survivor" of early TAT negotiations, so his perspective was extremely interesting and valuable. We know that when the TAT was originally established at 71 %, the counties were intended beneficiaries. However, one of the things that the Senate President made clear is that, when the legislators took the politically unpopular step of increasing the TAT to 9 %%, it was their necks that were on the line, and there is no reason why the counties should feel they have any claim on that extra 2%. The Ways and Means Committee has proposed to increase the counties' share of the TAT from $103M to $108M. While we recognize that the State has its own financial problems, and therefore any increase in the counties' share of TAT is appreciated, we cannot help but express our belief that the counties' portion of TAT should be much higher than $108M, and that belief has been reinforced by the Senate President's history lesson. Based on past commitments, and the tough vote that the state legislators took, we understand why the counties cannot expect to receive 45% of County of Hawaii is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer.