HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0068.001 2022-2024r
PI Comm_
March 6, 2023 alt 17(C10o-)
Hawaii County Council COUNTY OF HAWAII
25 Aupuni Street
Hilo, HI 96720 7023 NO —6 Pia 1: 32
RE: Testimony on Bill 17 (C78), Amends County Code, re RPT Appeals
Dear Council Members:
My name is Wes Takai and I am here today to address the proposed language of Bill 17 to make the current
appeal deposit to the board of review nonrefundable. I request that you defer the voting of this bill so you can
review my concerns and revise the wording so it will allow for exceptions to the deposit cost been
nonrefundable, especially if an assessment was caused by an error within the real property division and
recognized to be a departmental error. For your information, I have been active in this county's real property
program for over 50 years as a landowner, employee.of the real property division for 39 years as an appraiser,
appraisal supervisor and county real property administrator, and upon my retirement, a board of review
member for two 5 year terms. For about the last 17 years of my career with the county, I was virtually in
charge of the appeal program and was aware that occasional errors were committed by the division and that
actions were taken to correct the unintended errors.
I understand the intent for the appeal deposit to be nonrefundable because of the time and cost involved in
the appeal process. However, you or an affected constituent would probably be upset if you were informed
that your appeal deposit could not be refunded even after it was discovered that a departmental error caused
the contested assessment and the county would willingly make the corrections. This is the reason to have at
the very least the refundable exception for cases caused by departmental errors.
Attached is a worksheet I drafted to visually show how the exception for departmental errors can be worded
by adding nonrefundable and deleting a few words in Section 19-101 and not amending Section 19-100 at all.
Thank you for your time. Hopefully you can understand my concern on this issue and how some of your
constituents could be affected in the coming years by this nonrefundable statue if not properly addressed now.
I will be available to answer questions you may have concerning my testimony.
Sincerely,
. , :::)d41.„ -
WESLEY TAKAI
1222-E Kaumana Drive
Hilo, HI 96720
(808) 961-4601
atch: worksheet
Comm. No
Ref.To: Fl(AMA
Ref. Dote MAR — 8 2023
WORKSHEET
AS PROPOSED BILL NO. 17
SECTION 1. Chapter 19, article 12, section 19-100, of the Hawai'i County Code 1983 (2016 Edition,
as amended) to read as follows:
"SECTION 19-100. Cost; deposit for an appeal.
The nonrefundable cost to be deposited by the taxpayer for an appeal to
the board of review shall be $50 for each real property tax appeal.
The cost to be deposited by the taxpayer on any appeal to the tax appeal
Court or the State supreme court shall be as provided in sections 232-22 and
232-23, Hawai'i Revised Statues."
RECOMMENDATION
Leave Section 19-100 as currently worded in the Hawaii County Code, no amendment necessary.
AS PROPOSED
SECTION 2. Chapter 19, article 12, section 19-101, of the Hawai'i County Code 1983 (2016 Edition,
as amended), is repealed.
I .
Gerin ]"
RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 1. Chapter 19, article 12, section 19-101, of the Hawai'i County Code
1983 (2016 Edition, as amended) to read as follows:
"Section 19-101. Cost,taxation.
In the event of an appeal by a taxpayer to the board of review, if the
[. .. . . - - - . - -- . • . - - . :: , . --] board of review finds
that an adjustment is required due to duplicate assessments or departmental
errors such as but not limited to transposition in figures, typographical errors,
and errors in calculations, the cost deposited shall be returned to the appellant.
Otherwise, the entire amount of cost deposited shall be nonrefundable [fetal-Fed-fie
Getr ]."
SECTIONS 3, 4, 5 should then be changed to SECTIONS 2, 3,4 respectively.