MIN CHARTER 2018-12-14 (2018-2020)

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Hawai`i County Charter Commission -6 December 14, 2018 have solve flexibility. I think this is not a slap in the face of the grassroots effort that was put forth. I think it was a good thing. It honors that effort. It simply says there shall be some flexibility, so I support this. I just wanted to make sure that I came here because I expected there to be a lot of opposition but I wanted for all of you to hear another perspective on all of this. I thank you for your time. CHR. ADAMS: Thanks for your testimony. Mr. Ho. NELSON HO: Communication No. 21 -Proposal No. CA -7 and Proposal No. CA -9, commenting. MR. HO: Sure, Hello everyone. My name is Nelson Ho. I am speaking today on behalf of myself. First thing, what I would like to do is comment on what Mr. Chung has said. I do not believe that the two percent proposal or what was passed by the public is the cause for any imbalance or unbalancing of our County budget. I think it is and Council member Jen Ruggles brought it up two years ago, it is the unbalanced way in which we are applying our real property taxes. We are taxing more or less what we think is equally across the board rather than what people can afford to pay. There are people with multi-million dollar second homes and parcels which are paying the same amount as somebody on a fixed income relying on social security. So, I disagree with Mrs. Chung's analysis and I think there is ample evidence and suggestions of how to rebalance the County budget elsewhere and I know that is not the topic of this discussion. So I will get back to CA -7 and CA -9 and I think that the people of Hawai`i have spoken and they have looked out for the future and they have looked out at what the island can provide. I think as somebody who has enjoyed outdoor recreation all my life and have hiked on every island, I have kayaked just about the coastline of every island and thoroughly appreciated it. And I want to see future generations have that opportunity. I want to see Hawai`i Island become a magnet for the world to come and enjoy outdoor resources and we of all people of all islands in this beautiful Archipelago have the ability to provide that. On Oahu, squeezed out, Maui, you could fit it in Puna, Kauai is even smaller than Puna okay?, so what do we have left? The Big Island and I think that we can be as magnetic as New Zealand where we, you line up years in advance to get on the Milford Track and enjoy unencumbered wilderness. The Swiss hut system in the Alps, I would love to go on that and you have undisturbed vistas and access to the Mauka lands, beautiful. People from all over the world enjoy that. And I want Hawai`i Island to have that potential for the future. I would like to echo the fact that the will of the people should be respected. This did pass a major fight to get on the Charter, on the ballot, and it passed and I don't think we should strip that away for the financial argument which I do not find to be compelling and just to say briefly, I support CA -9. I think there can be expanded uses of that money for staffing and expand the scope to take care of the lands and we should look at that closely. Thank you very much. Page 34