2017-04-04 Letter to Jill Tokuda re HB 1479, HD2, SD1 Relating to the Hilo Community Economic District

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J. Tokuda April 4, 2017 Page 2 • 206E-C(b): Not sure what"for a term of sixty-five years in the aggregate" means, but I assume that after 65 years, land must go to auction. Does that work for the KIA leaseholders? If not, I would hope that some other accommodation can be made, now or in conference,to allow for their continued tenure. Also on this point, the authors of SD1 may be intending to allow these KIA lessees to relinquish their remaining leases and this section says that a "relinquishing lessee may bid on the new lease." But the language allowing for relinquishment seems to be missing. As an example of what could be included, HB 575 said specifically "a lessee of public land that is subject to the management, administration, or control of the department may relinquish a lease during the last ten years of the term of the lease..." • 206E-3 (b) and 206E-3 (b) (4):There is proposed only one cultural specialist for all the Districts statewide, so that person almost certainly will come from Oahu. If asking one person to have expertise that includes both Oahu and Hawaii County is not realistic,then a separate cultural specialist position should be created for the Hilo Community Economic District. • Finally, we cannot afford to jeopardize or divert the real property tax revenue that comes from the affected parcels and currently goes into the County general fund (we estimate that for the properties in SD1,tax revenue exceeds$3M). In this regard we have two concerns: 1. SD1 says in §206E-D : Hilo community economic revolving fund. (a) There is established in the state treasury the Hilo community economic revolving fund, into which shall be deposited: (1) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, including section 206E-16,all revenue, income, and receipts of the authority for the district... 2. It also seems,theoretically at least,that the Authority could issue leases that provide for the lessee to be exempt from property taxes for the term of the lease. We do not think that HB1479, SD1 is intended to affect real property taxes, so ask for language that makes it crystal clear that real property taxes are not part of "revenues, income, and receipts...", that leases cannot affect property tax obligations, and that all property taxes will continue to flow to the County general fund. Res ectfully submitted, Harry Kim Mayor County of Hawai'i is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer.