HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0739.018 2020-2022 PFG
IT YI i ■ ■ ■ ` ,
1022 OCT 17 PIS 3= I,6 HAWAII HOTEL
October 18, 2022 ALLIANCE
Gerard C.Gibson
President
Hawaii Hotel Alliance
Maile David, Chair
Aaron Chung,Vice Chair
Hawaii County Council, Hawaii County Building
25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, HI 96720
RE:Support for Bill 156—providing a 15%cap on certain property tax values
Dear Chair David,Vice Chair Chung and Members of the Hawaii County Council,
The Hawaii Hotel Alliance supports Bill 156 and the proposed rate cap(both ceiling and floor) of 15%for
the: apartment, hotel and resort, commercial, industrial, agricultural, native forests, and conservation
tax classes.
As you know,our hotel and resort members undertook significant deficits in 2020, as we invested in
medical benefits and food programs for our furloughed employees and their families while the visitor
industry was completely shut down. Last year was also a challenge,with the surge of the delta variant,
and state leaders encouraging visitors not to travel to Hawaii during the summer season. 2022 has been
a year of rebuilding and stabilization.And we believe the measured increases proposed in this bill will
help our members further stabilize in fiscal 2023-24 and beyond.
Thank you for understanding that businesses are seeing significant increases in the day-to-day costs of
operations in nearly every arena: salary increases, increases in the cost of family medical benefits,food
costs for both our guests and our employee meals, energy and gasoline costs, construction materials
costs and delays, supply chain disruptions,the new Hawaii County TAT implemented in January 2022,
and significant increases in real property tax values in 2022-23.As an example,one hotel along the
Kohala Coast saw the value of its buildings increase by 124% between 2020 and 2022, and seven
properties saw their values increase by more than 50%.These types of increases are not sustainable.
Businesses large and small are relying on you to create appropriate guardrails so we can better forecast
overall expenses in future years.
We encourage you to support Bill 156.
Sincerely,
Gerard C. Gibson, President
Comm. No. 1 •i%
HAWAII HOTEL Ref. To: P
ALLIANCE Ref. Date. OCT 1 8 2022