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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN CRCOC 2024/01/09 (2022-2024) Committee on Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight 19th Session Hawai`i.County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawai`i January 9, 2024 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Communications, Reports, and ORDER: Council Oversight was called to order at 1:02 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Chair Ms. Jerin Kagiwada, Vice Chair Ms. Cindy Evans, Member(via videoconference from Kona) Ms. Michelle M. Galimba, Member Mr. Holeka Goro Inaba, Member(came in later) Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Heather L. Kimball, Member Absent & Excused: Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: (There were none.) COMMUNI- The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, CATIONS: Communications. Comm. 11.1: 2023 ANNUAL REPORT: REAL PROPERTY TAX BOARD OF REVIEW p y From Real Pro ert Tax Board of Review Chair Michael Okumoto, dated November 7, 2023, transmitting the above report pursuant to Hawai`i County Code Section 19-97(e). Motion to Close File: Ms. Kimball moved to close file on Communication 11.1. Seconded by Ms. Kagiwada. CHR. VILLEGAS: And with that can we go ahead and invite Mrs. Miura up here to present the communication for us? Happy New Year, Lisa. CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 (Note: At this time, Real Property Tax Administrator Lisa Miura came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MS. MIURA: Good afternoon and Happy New Year, Council. Lisa Miura, Real Property Tax Administrator. This communication is actually from the Tax Board of Review, so this is based on how the appeals went for the 2023 season. Each year, at the end, they send a report to the Mayor and the Council, in regard to their comments and recommendations. I was talking to Sylvia Wan who is the boards Corp. Counsel, there's nothing to earth shattering on their comments this year. Sometimes it's a little bit more controversial, but not this time. I don't believe there's anybody from the board that's here, they're down to three members; we're short two. So, they do need to fill some spots, if you know anybody that would like to serve on.the board; I don't really have anything to address. I thought their comments were pretty right on, and I know it's on the website if anybody in the public wants to read what they have to report. But I'm happy to answer any questions if you have it for our office. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you,Ms. Miura. Just opening it up to my colleagues. Council Meriber Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Yeah, I just wanted to ask about the workshop that's held. I guess it's on the first day on the annual organizational meeting. Is it part of it or is it like a separate meeting? MS. MIURA: No, they're actually supposed to be separate: .So, they were unable to make a quorum to hold an organizational meeting, which is actually notated in the Hawaii County Code when it's supposed to be. This year it was held late due to lack of quorum. Once quorum was able to be had, then they had the meeting the same day as the workshop,but technically they're not supposed to be that way. MS. GALIMBA: It's supposed to be earlier? MS. MIURA: It is supposed to be earlier; I believe it's in March. MS. GALIMBA: Okay. Yeah, Iguess I just wondered is there like a slide deck from that or anything like that? MS.MIURA: From the workshop, yes. We actually have probably seven different presentations that were made throughout the day. And it's usually a workshop based on former requests from the board members, as well as if there's new board members, we try to cover a little bit more and then have a separate session with just the new board member. But as far as Real Property Taxes documents, yeah, we post the agenda so it's public. So, we can provide that. I'm taking it, you want a copy? Page 2 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 MS. GALIMBA: Yes, that will be awesome. Thank you. MS. MIURA: I believe I can share everything; I'd have to check with Corp. Counsel on the one that they do though. MS. GALIMBA: Okay, thank you so much. I yield. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Galimba. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to clarify what's the difference between the appeals cases and the complaint cases. The complaints, is that something that tends to happen after an appeals ruling and they don't like the ruling, so they submit a complaint? Is that what happens there? MS. MIURA: So, the complaint can be on anything through the whole process that deals with the Board of Appeals. So, it could be either that they didn't get an appeal heard, or they did have one and they have a complaint on it: I believe the two that were filed this year did not actually file for an appeal, but was more on the process. And so not all complaints have actually gone through the appeal process. MS. KAGIWADA: Oh, okay. So, they could have filed for an appeal,but they did not. They chose to just complain about it, which doesn't—what do you do when you have a complaint? MS. MIURA: So, at the complaint hearing, those that made a complaint can either come in person or in the case of one of the individuals, they did present on the phone, and they just addressed their concerns. I mean it's like a testimony here I guess, it doesn't necessarily have questions going back and forth. But they are able to have their complaints noted, and then it's filed with the Mayor, and County Council, and the Board's report. MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. Do you know why somebody would not do an appeal when they're clearly, basically concerned about the impact like verses complaints? I'm just wondering if they understand the process and the choices they have. MS._.MIURA: I believe sometimes they're trying to make—I'm not necessarily referring to these two but the ones that we have had in the past is either maybe wanting to see a change in how the appeals are handled or how values are handled. It could be on how exemptions are handled. But it's more a complaint on the process, instead of just one thing in general. Page 3 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 MS. KAGIWADA: Okay. And if you get somebody that does come in with a complaint, but you actually think maybe they really mean to do an appeal, do you advise them on that or is that up to them to figure that out? MS. MIURA: Correct. So, we've spoken with at least one of these individuals' multiple times about the appeal process, the time frame to do an appeal. Sometimes when people file complaints it's that there's an appeal fee. Others. might be, like I said, it's just on the process. MS.KAGIWADA: Okay. Thanks for helping me understand that better. MS. MIURA: You're welcome. MS. KAGIWADA: I yield. CHR. VILLEGAS: Council Member Kimball. MS. KIMBALL: Thank you, Chair. Thank you for being here. Just a couple of questions. I noticed that a couple of the comments and recommendations provided by the board members related to transient accommodations, and communication, and around that. But my first question would be, was there a large percentage of the appeals that were related to folks learning of their status number one and number two,were there specific recommendations about communicating? Could you go into a little more detail, I guess, about those recommendations? MS. MIURA: Okay. So, this year, I would say we had less appeals based on the fact that there was a short-term vacation rental or rental of less than 180 days. And usually those that are filing it's because'.they had lost the homeowner tax class. So, any time your property is utilized, whether it's one room or the whole house, you would lose the homeowner tax class even though you're still living there. I believe, this year we had a lot less of those than we had in years past and part of that was due to the rollbacks. And we still did quite a bit of roll backs this year, which means that our office caught that somebody was doing it. And so, if there was reviews going back so many years and they were still advertising, we would do what you call is a roll back on the homeowner tax class to what they should've paid in taxes had they not had it. And the most we can do is the current year plus two years back. So, when I say we had less cases this year, it's either because more people have already been caught in the prior years and so less came forward or maybe we were explaining it better to those that had the roll back. And in either case I think the'biggest complaint that we do hear is well, I didn't realize I couldn't rent out my house. On our homeowner exemption form it does have a part on it that if you're renting it out, it could lead to disallowance. And we have notes on there. Some of them filed it several years ago and don't Page 4 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 remember and just decided, you know, now is a good time to do short-term rental. Maybe their house their kids grew up in left and so they wanted to rent a room. They might have called Planning Department to see if they needed to do anything special. And from the Planning Department side, if you're living in the house and it's hosted you didn't need to do anything special. But that doesn't mean that Real Property Tax going to let it go. So, I think one of the issues or recommendations that you saw in there was a feeling that if the multiple departments had one cohesive policy. Well, we realize sitting here that Planning has their chapter they follow, Real Property has their chapter; so it would need to be in multiple places. So, I think that's where they were coming from on the board side. We don't sit in there with them as they do the recommendation and report, but just having heard some of the cases that came before, it was still a lot of I didn't know. And we have it on our website, we have it on the exemption forms, and we send out the assessment notices with that additional page that's color coded; usually it's in pink or yellow. And we try and change the colors,so people actually read it,but it tends to end up in the recycle bin. And I don't really know how else to get the word out to the public, that if you're doing a rental for less than 180 days, you will lose your homeowner tax class. MS. KIMBALL: And so, responding to a question about it in a Council form is one mechanism. Yeah, appreciate that. And I know you guys have made a lot of adjustments to make sure that it's getting out there. And it's certainly something that as we deliberated about the upcoming transient accommodation bill, it's something that a lot of folks weren't aware of So,hoping we can do a little better about communicating that as we go through this legislative process on those bills. Thank you, Chair. I yield. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Kimball. Council Member Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Thank you, Chair. Administrator Miura, great to see you. Happy New Year. Just a follow-up on some of the recommendations from this body related to public outreach. I know they mentioned organizations like the Chambers of Commerce and Board of Realtors. All great organizations, but very business slanted. And so, I wonder if they had other suggestions for how we might continuously outreach to members of the public? MS. MIURA: The only thing I had told them and they're aware of is that anytime any group asked us to come and speak with our senior citizens, so we've gone out to do senior citizen outreach in Kohala, and other different organizations whether it's still business, but rotary clubs. And we'll speak to anybody that will invite us to come over, community association included. Any groups that actually Page 5 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 are bored enough to listen to Real Property Tax. Speak on anything, they can pick the topic as long it's around Real Property Tax or the Hawai`i County Code, we're happy to come and do a presentation. We have gone through the University of Hawai`i,but more often than not it's usually Title companies, Realtor Associations, Mortgage companies, or the Chambers that ask us. So, we do routine presentations to those, but we'll talk to anyone. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Have you ever thought about doing some sort of webinar and recording that and having that available on your website, or do you already have something similar to that? MS. MIURA: We don't. We actually do have that on our list. We want to do two webinars to create. I saw some of the other counties have, I forgot what it's called,but it's some cartoon thing that explains how assessments are done. Another one about exemptions. So it is on our list of things.to do. I don't like hearing myself talk specifically, so I'm not the one that wants to do it. But we have that for this fiscal year to get done. Not that it's going to be a cost item, but that is one of our goals to get that out there. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: That way the information is always out there. And if folks have questions,they can just hit play and go through your presentation. The other question that I had was around number seven with appraisers citing the Code (Hawai'i County Code) or Finance Director rules. Has it been practiced in the past, where the Code or Rules were not cited in the recommendations coming from the division? MS. MIURA: So what's interesting is their times, and it does depend on the board makeup. Sometimes you have those that want to see excerpts, and with this case they want to see actually excerpts from the Code, where it's like copied and pasted in so they can refer straight to it and sometimes they don't need that kind of detail. The current board is made up where they want to see it. So this past year, we've had some staff that did it and some staff that didn't. And so, what they're saying is they want to see it every time, so that their Corporation Counsel doesn't need to refer back to the exact wording of the Code each time. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I see. And that's a simple enough practice for you folks to incorporate? MS. MIURA: Absolutely. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Ok. Perfect. Thank you. And then the last question I had was related to their recommendation for legislative matters. They're looking to have—they're asking us, the Council, to increase funding so you can do more enforcement of the Code. Page 6 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 MS. MIURA: Yes, that was a shock to me. I'm not going to lie. So, we do have one Compliance Officer now and we realize this is not always up to the Council, it's what departments or divisions put into their budget and including their supplemental budget. And there was a position for like a clerk to help the compliance officer. I think what they were seeing was they felt like a lot of it right now is complaint based or when he has time he's out looking for certain things on the website. And they wanted to see more people evenly across the Island get looked at for compliance, rather than us getting to it when we can. Being in finance, I understand that, you know, positions are not the easiest thing to grant departments, even though I wholeheartedly feel like every position within Real Property Tax generates money that can help the County as a whole. Realistically, it's much more attractive for those positions to go to police and fire, who are emergency based, to service agencies. Whether it's public works for highways or for solid waste, you know, or the transfer stations. So, it's hard for me to sit here and advocate for a compliance person when I know majority of the public is going to be,not thrilled to see another compliance person at the County level hired. However, I will say that the one we do have has generated over a million dollars in revenue each year: Not every person who's the one being rolled back is very thrilled about it, obviously they come in and appeal, because they're going to pay more taxes and they don't always agree with how the Code was interpreted to have created that. So, I just want it on record that I didn't ask for them to put this in there and I was shocked, and of all the questions, I was hoping it wouldn't get to that and that somebody from the board would be here to explain their side. But I think, they felt the compliance was important, even though the appeals came through on that to make this system more fair, because if somebody is getting lower taxes, somebody else is making up for that. That's, I believe, that's what that's about. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Yeah. I thought it was a very honest and creative recommendation, so I just wanted your thoughts on that. Thanks for being here, I appreciate it. Chair, I yield. MS. MIURA: You're welcome. MS. EVANS: Chair, in Kona. CHR. VILLEGAS: Council Member Evans, the floor is yours. MS. EVANS: Thank you. Low and behold, we do have a board member here that would like to comment on the legislative matters and recommendation. But, he walked in maybe five minutes ago and asked if the meeting had started. He wanted to make a comment on that recommendation. Up to you Chair, may I pass you over to=and,your name? Page 7 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 MR. EISERT: Jason. CHR. VILLEGAS: Yes, please do. Jason, please go ahead and turn on your microphone and introduce yourself to us. (Note: At this time, Real Property Tax Board of Review member Jason Eisert came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. EISERT: Aloha, County Council. My name is Jason Eisert, I'm a member of the Real Property Tax Board of Review. CHR. VILLEGAS: Fantastic. Go ahead, Jason, we're all ears. MR. EISERT: Awesome. Thank you so much for the time. So speaking on the legislative matter and the recommendation that we made, the primary reason that we made this recommendation was because, we have numerous members of the public that came in and appealed their case. And one of the main points that they brought up to us during their appeal was that they had neighbors who were doing the exact same thing as them._And I can give you a couple of different examples of what these things may be, but these appellants had neighbors who were doing short term rentals for example, and their property taxes were being rolled back three years where they have numerous examples of neighbors—who do not have this enforcement. And they're not going to turn in their neighbors and make them pay more taxes, from what we could see. So with that being said, that frustration really resonated with us board members. And we recognized that one compliance officer for the entire Island is not enough. And those cases are testament to that. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Appreciate that, Jason. Council Member Evans, did you want to continue on? You have the floor. MS. EVANS: Oh. Thank you. Yes, I just wanted to make a comment to Lisa. First of all, it's nice to see, I believe it says 55 percent of all appeals were settled and didn't go to the appeal board. So, that's a good thing. But the other thing is I noticed that there was I remember Kierkiewicz pointed this out, this'on-going desire to see the public educated or learning possibly about changes to Code, whatever it is that might be, coming their way that might change their tax, so that when they get the notice they kind of like take a step back and go, oh this is totally wrong. In fact it might right but they're going, woah, and so they appeal it, and so, I know in the past I've seen you put out the real question and answer handouts that I really, really like. But just, any you know, whatever we need to help you do public outreach. I will stand there supporting any efforts you may have, either in the budget or whatever to do public outreach. Maybe putting it on the website or the County website, the Q&A (question and answer). I've always told people in my district, you know,. Page 8 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 just call them up and tell them what your situation is, they'll look it up and they'll tell you, so ask them. Just ask them, and you'll get an answer, you know, before they appeal. But I do that by encouragement. The only other thought I have is maybe an annual roadshow. That maybe you do a roadshow and go into each one of our districts, that will be maybe, two days worth of nine, one to one and a half hours of roadshow presentation. Maybe everybody in the community knows you're out there doing your annual roadshow, and maybe that consistency might make a difference. But just some thoughts, you know, to help get that 55 percent to a higher number. But, thank you. So with that, I yield. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Evans. Council Member Kagiwada. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you Chair. CHR. VILLEGAS: Oh, I'm sorry. Did you already speak? No? Go ahead, sorry, then we'll go to Mr. Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MS. KAGIWADA: Alright. Thank you. I'm just wondering. I'm sitting here thinking about this issue with the neighbors, you know, having seemingly different rules apply to them and the kind of fairness issue. I'm wondering, do you ever get anything referred to you from the auditor, from the fraud, waste, and abuse hotline? MS. MIURA; I don't recall me getting anything directly from the legislative auditor. But we do have a compliance email on our website, and we do not require—we'll accept anonymous com plaints, whereas other departments require someone to file their name and phone number, whatever. We'll take anonymous and look into anything. MS. KAGIWADA: Ok, and is this something that the board knows about and lets people know about? MS. MIURA; We did announce it at the board of review workshop about our compliance email on the website. I don't think it gets talked about at the appeal hearings. MS. KAGIWADA: Ok. I'm just wondering if it could maybe just be a standard and maybe this is to Jason, even a bit of information that is shared either your compliance,you know, website or the auditor's fraud, waste, and abuse site, which also could be anonymous is my understanding'. For people who, you know, they don't want to have retribution or whatever;but they do think that there's something going on—that's maybe not fair. I think it's a place to start, anyway. Page 9 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 MS. MIURA: Ok. Yeah. Maybe we'll be better on our assessment notice at advertising it. Thank you. MS. KAGIWADA: Thank you, Chair. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Kagiwada. Council Member Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. MR.KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Chair. Yeah, looking over that administrative matters, and thank you for being here today. The number four, I think this is funny because we actually get this too,but in a little bit different light. The board recommends that County continue to provide outreach to the public to dispel the misconception that Real Property Tax and the Board of Review set the tax rate. And then we get complaints on why we've raised the property taxes,but it's actually due to the assessments and property values going up. So,yeah, if there's way to incorporate all of that into one nice infographic where as soon as they touch your website, bing, it just shows all of that. It would be really helpful for all of us,but it's also really important. It took me a number of meetings with you folks to wrap my head still wrapping my head around it actually, around the difference between assessments, evaluation, tax rates, it's just, it's not easy to grasp. But for someone who just wants quick information, they don't actually read through it, we got to make it real easy for these guys to understand, so. MS. MIURA: Ok. That's a good idea, we'll blame the Mayor. MR.KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah. MS. MIURA: I was just kidding. MR.KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We'll just put links. More information to link to and they can jump to that site and it'll confuse them more. No, we got to make this real easy, you know, so. MS. MIURA: Ok. MR.KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: So, yeah,just take that into account. I really appreciate your office; you guys are doing a great job. You fall under Finance, correct? MS. MIURA: Sorry, yes. Correct. I'm under Finance. MR.KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Maybe just from what you just said, if your compliance officer brought in a million dollars in revenue based on reviews of problematic properties, it may be good to bring someone else on, if you're not Page 10 CRCOC-19 January 9;2024 able to keep up. So, is that compliance officer back logged with thousands Of cases or are they pretty up to date? Where does that stand? MS. MIURA: So, I wouldn't say he's back logged with complaints. He is always looking at areas that need compliance checks. So, I think his position was very busy and was actually created by the County Council when the STVR (Short- Term Vacation Rental)Program first started. And so, he has gone through everything that's with the Planning Department as a non-hosted certificate to make sure those are not receiving the home exemption. Because when you actually file for the non-hosted, you're stating, I do_not live in the house. I am not there, when it's being rented and that you're actually, actively renting it, especially if you're a NUC (Non-conforming Use Certificate), right? I know if you're in the zoning you can go in and out. But long story short,he has gone through all of that. The ones he's getting now is the complaints. He is current on it. What he's currently looking into is everybody with an active Ag, well rather than getting off of what the board says so that I don't get into trouble for not having it agendized. I caught myself How's about when the County Council approves new legislation that might affect who qualifies for something,he is`looking into who really does qualify for that. So, there's some new programs that Council approved in 2023 for 2024 that he is reviewing. MR.KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ok. So not a backlog of cases screaming we need more positions to look into, but just funding for the position. I mean that legislative matter is only.one. And that's it, so. MS. MIURA: Right. Yeah, that's the only one they put then I believe the Council did actually act on'some from last year, at least one I know of His position can stay extremely busy for a lot longer. Could we use another one to look into it? We could. I think the hard sale is going through administration because they have a lot of county positions to look at. And having been in Finance for a number of years—I know it doesn't always look very attractive if Finance is trying to create themselves positions when other agencies aren't getting their positions. So; I believe it's something that budget and finance looks at every year. I also just want to state that it's not easy to fill our current vacant positions. So, as much as I'd be like, yeah let's get more, I can't even fill the current vacant ones I have. As soon as we fill, we have others,that leave. So, we actually did get funded positions in this current budget that we haven't even been able to start doing positions descriptions for because we're short staffed. But we're all working on it, it's like that everywhere. I know it's not just our office. MR.KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Does that officer look into different compliance? Page 11 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 MS. MIURA: Different compliance? MR.KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Compliance issues, rather than just STVR's? MS. MIURA: Oh, yeah, Ag compliance; home exemption, whether it's long-term rental,he'll look at affordable rental, he'll look at anything that deals with Real Property Tax. Even if somebody's built unpermitted; he looks into if we need to pick up that building, if they've been getting a certain discount for a disability and they've passed away, he'll look into that. I mean he's looking at all sorts of things. MR.KANEALII-KLEINFELDER: Okay that's good to hear. So, what I found with the director of your department. Ex Director of your department, (Deanna Sako) she's moved on. She was always hesitant to ask for things for her department but always made sure every other department had what they needed, and I appreciated that about her. So as you work with your new Director, I'll make sure that we know what you folks are doing, what you're looking for, because I think this is very relevant and from what you just said, needed. I've heard a number of different things from the community. Not about your department,just in general what's going on and compliance issues, and why we're not addressing it, and this kinds of touches on that. So, I guess supplemental requests and moving in that direction might be a good way to go. MS. MIURA: Ok. Thank you, will do. MR.KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you. Chair, I yield. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you. Council Member Galimba. MS. GALIMBA: Matt pretty much talked about a lot of things that I wanted to talk about, which was could you use another position and did you support it. You've already answered that, but I guess I just wanted to, sort of, also talk a little bit about these sorts of complaint driven systems that we have. You know, which is very pragmatic in a sense but it's also very uneven. And I just wondered— wanted to ask if there is a prospect for coming up with a system that is perhaps, you know, it's still going to be complaint driven but not necessarily that being the only way that it's driven. Just your thoughts on that. MS. MIURA: The complaint driven process, it is rough. I do like it that we'll take anonymous complaints. I know some staff, even within our Real Property Office, don't always agree, but I can understand the fear of retaliation and not wanting to be the bad neighbor. The hardthing our office faces is people try to— it's human nature, I think,for a lot of people to pay the least amount of taxes as possible. The lengths that some go to are pretty extreme to evade us and so we have people that don't live in their house. It's a full-time short-term vacation Page 12 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 rental; they file the home exemption; they've already been caught, but they're smart enough to know if, you know, I use that property address as the mailing address that's that much harder and then they go and check the mail every day. So those are areas that the only way for us to find out is going to be from the neighbors because we are not going to sit out there, and camp out, and check out every property to see what's going on. For the most part, I believe majority of the people in the programs are honest and sincere or they're just not aware they're actually breaking any program or exemption by what they're doing., But for the few that are, the complaints have been the strongest and the most efficient way for us to find them. Because there's so many properties on this island and there's so many properties, we can't actually get to the house even to talk to someone. But without that complaint,we wouldn't even know it existed. So, I can't say that there's other programs out there we could utilize. I know at one time, the Legislative Auditor did share that there are some programs you can run that checks some anomalies and will figure out things and that's good, but word of mouth is still our biggest advocate here for finding when there's problems. And I wouldn't say it's outright fraud, I just think it's not understanding the system for the most part. You're still going to have some that will do everything they can to evade taxes. MS. GALIMBA: I was thinking about, you know, a zone and I understand how that would be like just so much work,°because it is a lot of properties that would probably be the most equitable, but also be the most amount of work. And then you talk about, sort of like, the problematic approach, where you're looking at new programs or certain programs with a higher probability of people wanting to fudge,you know, the:edges or something: And then there's through the complaint driven part of it, I guess, would you say that the program side is more sort of like priority number one and then complaint is number two or the opposite? MS. MIURA: Well, they're handled.from different areas so the complaints that are coming in is obviously all going to the Compliance Officer. If it's programs, somebody is submitting to that goes through clerical and our appraisal side, so it's handled by different groups. Where compliance comes into play, for example, would be when the tax rates can be lower to the home exemption tax rate. That being the lowest tax rate along with affordable rental, that's where we're going to see the most abuse. So, he'll handle the complaints first, and then look at the programs second because we have appraisal and clerical looking at programs first. If that makes any sense. MS. GALIMBA: No, it totally does. Thank you. MS. MIURA: Ok. MS. GALIMBA: I yield. Page 13 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you, Council Member Galimba. Alright, also let the record show that Council Member Holeka Goro Inaba has rejoined us. And with that, I will just wrap this up quickly. I wanted to first off give credit where credit is due. According to this report, there are a number of different times in the administrative matters, under the comments and recommendations, that the board compliments your office and your team on everything that you do and how you support them throughout the year. And the new practices and procedures that have been installed,in order to support those serving on this board, having a broader understanding, and being able to more effectively serve. They also recognize the value in the trainings and the partnerships there, so I wanted to compliment all of you on that, because they also recognize what a time commitment this is. So without the support of your office and your Corp. Counsel, they really indicated they would be drowning more. And so, thank you so much for helping to keep them above water. I am hopeful that we will be able to attract more people and appropriate people to serve in these capacities because I understand it's:vital and neoessary for us, as well as for your department to hire on And as it's deemed necessary and if you:decide to push for that, a new position, I think it sounds like you would have some support from my colleagues here. Unfortunately, we don't have.a magic wand, to like Poof—create new humans to fill all the vacancies but I hope that you feel the support from up here, for everything that you do. I also, in the last couple of months, I have been hearing through the coconut wireless that the transitions that have been made and the compliance and regulatory follow up, and enforcement has been making a difference when it comes to short term vacation rentals. And even with the reassessment of tax, taxes, and property values, and what not; unfortunately, we would all like to use the carrot versus the stick but, the prevalence of people opting for short-term vacation rentals which is contributed directly to our housing crisis seems to be waning and people are stepping away when they get to choose one or the other and the hassle of the short-term vacation rental and flipping it, and all those things, now coupled with the adequate and more equitable taxes, associated to that class. They're choosing long term rentals which, you know, we're always trying to find that balance where we're not punitively hurting those that rely on that kind of. income in order to pay their mortgage. But we're also not eliminating the opportunity for°affordable long-term rentals in our communities. So, I think we're getting a little closer, the numbers that you've shown here seem to reflect that. So thank you for that, and I just had a quick question, about compliance versus.enforcement. I suppose because, you know, with the short-term vacation rental legislation when that came out, there has always been,as you know, my phone, and email, and everything always blowing up about the illegal short-term Page 14 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 vacation rentals next door, what not. The common message was there wasn't enough enforcement. And so, I just wondering how we've recalibrated and this one compliance person, is able to manage all that now, or how, how we're recalibrating. MS. MIURA: So, I feel bad for the other departments. The edge that I think our office has is directly related to real property taxes. You don't pay it, we can sell your property, we can lien your property. That is not the easier option for the other departments to have. So they see an immediate, you know, it's not like we have to find them over and over as some departments do, we just send a new bill and say here's your amended notice, you lost your home exemption or your homeowner tax class, this is your new taxes, its due in 30 days, and if it's not paid you have a 10 percent penalty on top of it. So, I feel for the other departments as they are going to struggle on enforcement, because they don't have that stick to utilize that our office does. And so, I think it's both good and bad. I mean it's not that I don't have empathy, some of them are really hard and I feel really, really bad about but we have to treat everybody fair and equitably. So, I don't know how to help with the compliance'or enforcement for other offices, but_I think that's why our office is a little bit more fortunate because we have an immediate'way to send them a bill. And taxes hits your cash flow, and so we're going to get a lot of attention, not necessarily positive. We've had a lot more complaints'to the Mayor's office, lately, about it as well. But I'think, that's the difference between our office and the others is we have that mechanism. CHR. VILLEGAS: Thank you. That helps clarify in a big way how we can do that. And I, you know, you guys do-this amazing dance, I mean just the word taxes might as well be a, well it is a four-letter word, no five letter, yeah. Anyway, It makes people cringe and yet we so often forget that that's how things get funded for public services. And we saw this most prevalently during, you know, covid. Nobody wants government in their business unless they want government to fix everything for them. And government is supposed to be the people, by the people, for the people, with the people. So, unfortunately, that conundrum has become so complex and convoluted. But I do want to compliment your office, we had a medical emergency'in my family last year and almost loss my mom. And in the ensuing months, my father had fallen behind on some of his paperwork and there was deep concern based on the penalties that were accruing and what not. But, when he came to your office and brought all the paperwork and everything that was necessary,you guys held his hand, and walked him through it, and pulled back the penalties that were able to be pulled back based on this one-time occurrence and what it was related to. Page 15 CRCOC-19 January 9,2024 • So, I really want the public to understand that this office is run by humans that are members of our community that are tasked with a very challenging workload, which is, you know, equitably representing and holding everybody accountable to the tax codes that are in effect right now: But that you are humans and that when extenuating circumstances do happen, that there is opportunity for connection and reconsideration on those things. But when I look at this report in comparison to the time before, I see a lot of progress and you guys taking into consideration what the board had brought to you before, and really,really implementing those things. So, thank you for that. With that, we will take the vote to close file on communication 11.1. All those in favor? Vote on Comm. 11.1: The motion to close file on Comm. 11.1 was carried (Filed) by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Galimba, Inaba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i—Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, arid Chair Villegas—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Lee Loy— 1. Excused: None. ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 1:47 p.m., Mr. Inaba moved to adjourn MENT the meeting. Seconded by Mr.'Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. and carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Evans, Inaba, Galimba, Kagiwada, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Kimball, and Chair Villegas—8. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Member Lee Loy— 1. Excused: None. CHR. VILLEGAS: And with that, we are adjourned at 1:47 p.m. Approved: M.01 '1014 Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Chair (Date) Communications, Reports, and Council Oversight Committee RV/mp Page 16