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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0533.012 2000-2002 ~3ala~ct tl~e C®unty ;budget To The Co;anty Council: ~p~~'~ r ~ ~R No orae en3~ies your job this year. Constructing a budget with too few revenues to cover too many ~ xpenses calls for courage and foresight. I offer my thoughts in the spirit of helping county government in the lor:g term, as well as trying to make sense of the current fiscal crisis. When budgets must balance ar~d don't, +_here are only two choices: Raise revenues or reduce expNnditures. Let's examine the feasibility of both options. lq.aisiug avenues The most publicized option for rail>n.g revenue is to raise property tax rates. But let's consider distributing the tax burden ~r<~re fairly. The present property tax system favors some people over others, sometimes i4h good reason, and other times not. I-~u~eowners receive tl~e big Est tax break, and perhaps it is a justifiable public policy to ~.vor home ownershAp and permanent residence, as the federal and state income tax systern~ do. It's as American as apple pie, so to speak, to favor homeowners over renters an~~ part-time visitors. Agricultural lands, sirnalarly, :ire favored with lesser tax assessments for public policy reasons tl~t refer to the State Constitution and the County Charter. It's good public policy to keep substantial land ;n agriculture to preserve open space, watershed, and green;belts, for the benefit of the entire community. Other classes of people are gity=en huge exemptions from property taxes in this county. " he elderly and tl~~lcdre not appropriate classes of people for tax b~-ralcs. I enjoy a tax breal~ merely fo: being over 60. I am not poor. As Mayor I~im says, leis in- laws are enxbarrasscd to pay tbe mini.°uin tax for their property, just because they are elderly. u~'`hat sense does it ;wake to exempt older people as a class? Similarly, disabled people as<~ class ure not necessarily unable to pay reasonable taxes on their properties. If some individuals are unable to pay increased taxes on their properties, because Council eliminates exemptions, the County can put a lien on their properties for the additional taxes, to be collected from their estates, when they die. There are not rnan~y who could not pay $10I; a year or $~€1J a year more than they now pay. If they are unable to pay, the County can settle later with their estates. Equalizing tax rates by elimir:;ating exemptions for the elderly and disabled a classes would raise several millions ir;~ property tax revenues, I expect. Making ~ropertv ass~s~:~,~' €~nore equitable across the county would mean raising assessed ~~alues in East I'{a%J~aii, ~vhic€~; would raise revenues for the county government. My acco:tant was very ang~-y° the other day when she told me of a couple, for whom she File Im1a - ~ ~o ll~~ f8,ef. 'f~ . does tax reta~rns, who had separated, she living in lelorth Kona and he living in South Hilo. Thew residences are ega~ally spacious and well-appointed, on equal parcels of l rsd. But her Kona taxes are four times his South Hilo, because of the low assessed values of Hilo property. Tl~as extreyr~e differer?ial in assessed values needs to be examined. More equit~.ble assessments in Hilo would generate more tax revenues for the county government, without raising rates. Selling assets Selling cou=°~ty-owned land is an option promoted by Mr. Yagong, and it makes a lot of sense, if those assets are not currently ?<~'::ductive. The County is holding lands surrendered in lieu of taxes and is doing; little or nothing with them. You might as well convert delinquent tax lands into curet: revenue by selling them to others who would use them productively. Raising, Tax Itate~ Given that >~v'est Hawaii contrihutes 75~ia of the property tax revenues to county government, and gets back barely 25ni~ of the expenditures, raising tax rates across the board wool{1 be a~-, extremely ua~popD~lar approach to balancing the county budget on whis side of the rwland. ~~Ie already feel fi~:5~ceei and disempowered. Don't make a very bad: political sittion worse. Cutting >1+J~penditures One principle in private enterprise is that people are the biggest cost-centers. Employees cost you not only their salaries but equipment to do their work, space to house them, retirement ~:ontributions, health insurae, and so forth. People on the payroll are extremely :xpensive, especially in htawaii. If~ou want to cut costs look first to cutting people from the pav~oll. Layoffs and job elimination are anathe.r~a in this state, to the great detriment of the economy anal every citizen's fc~sure. .-fhe economy is stagnant, the bureaucracy is bloated, and taxpayers ar. exploited a n~ fed-up. You must face up to the reality that g_overnm~r~: emplovees ~es~tte their ~t-~ salaries are extremel~ex~ensive, especially in the long term, because of ~°~zon rFJ'd~ a'uout work, because of excessive, lifetime benefits, and because of poor producti3:-ity, for which we can blame successive administratfans, who have not invested in technology and equipment to make county employees a~aore productive. A second p~°inciple of good business is that people without the right equipment and training arm a tervil~,e waste, cf one~~. -Good people cannot overcome a bad system. You have to choose between keepia~g, lots ~yf inefficient people in their jobs without the right support or firing sorry people to invevt in the right equipment and training for fewer employees; who can be productive. I know that computers don't vote, wh4reas government employees and their ohanas certainly do. But so do taxpayers vote. And we are tired of inefficient work practices by 2 county employees without the right supervision or equipment. The county parks in ~~~est 1-Iawaii are disgrace. The roads are f~.lling apart. The toilets in county facilities are broken. Ali of these thir~~s nay work i 1?ast Hawaii, but over here, the county facilities and services are disgraceful Inefficiencies arise from the Hilo-cen?~bi~ organization of county government. Overly centralized govern~nt i~ wasteful Pc~~ple who want to get anything done have ultimately tf £ deal with Hilo, ?cause 7bt is where all decisions are made anal all resources arc Held., Call X11 and. you g~~ Kilo. Ask for a tax map, and you get ~-Iilo. Need a deci.~ion of any ki~~d, call 1-lilo. C:sturiers scurry back and forth to Hilo. Work crews to fix'_hings in I{.ailua drive over from Hilo. Five hours on the road what a huge waste of taxpayer dollars. West Hawaii county offices don't even have their own postage. Growth and development are largely .here in West Hawaii and in Puna, where none of the decisions are made and few of the resources are allocated. You can reduce the cost of goverr??.r12e~€*. sim~l~ by alloca'~ ~~w decision-making power and resources directly to countxoffces o=Per here. Conelaasion Perhaps, thi~~ budget crunch is a blessing in disguise, as the old expression goes. Perhaps, having to make'~ard choices will ma~c,<county government more rational. Perhaps, fewer, bette~•-equipped anal trained en3ployees wi1'_ revolutionize county services. Perhaps, rn~re de~:isions arbd re~urce;~ Zvi be allocated to residents outside South Hilo. Perhaps, our parks will have ~~=cfrl~ing toilets, our streets will have filled potholes, and our county facilities `will be repaired and craned occasionally. The wrong choices at this crucial poirAt-will exacerbate the resentments and anger of many taxpayers, ~~aho feel cheated no~~~. Cheated not by the absolute amounts they pay but by the unfairness of a co';mty tax s stem that assesses some properties artificially low, favors some. taxpayers over others for no good reason, and fails to provide an efficient county goy=ernment. Studies have shown over and over ag<:~in that people will gladly pay for good government, governmen:<: they consider fair and beneficial to the community as a whole, Taxpayers are not lool~:ing for speeial, personal :~~~~antage. Most will pay willingly fQr good, clean, fair government that provides good ~sd~~ices and takes care of the community. That is not the government we perceive we have in Hawaii County, or at least in Wewt Hawaii. Ifbang-for-the-buck were a criterion for evaluating county government, it ~~~ould score as ar expensive fizzle. You car; fix this poor performance. Please do. Sandra Scare Holualoa 3