HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0533.042 2000-2002 1'esti~nony before the County Council (Pr°operty 1`ax/budget) Mcry 16, 2002
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Good evening and aloha, ~ ~ F-
n taauncil • ' -
Most of what I have to say tonight you will not want to listen to. flowever, I
ask that you both listen and heir what I have to say to you. I spent most of
my life at sea and know from experience that little leaks have a way of
becoming big leaks and if they aren't plugged no addition of pumps will
keep your ship afloat.
You, the council, had a little leak with those that only pay $25.00 a year in
property taxes. You chose not to plug the leak and now want more pumps.
A meager $75.00 a year increase was clearly called for, especially where it
costs the county more than $25.00 to send out the tax bills. Now you want
to raise my taxes over 25% for the pumps. NO, NO,1®TO! I, for one, am
tired of subsidizing government inefficiency. flare's a suggestion for you,
whereas it costs the county more than $25.00 to send out the bills, leave
these folks alone and don't even send the bills! I don't want to pay the
additional $15.00 tariff to send the bills. Its sheer lunacy to continue to
harass folks you obviously don't believe can afford it to begin with. St®p
the lunacy and give us all a break!
In most families in our community both spouses work to support our
onerous tax structure. ,OVhen one partner loses their job, which happens with
increasing frequency these days, the family has to cut corners to survive.
Allow me to introduce you to one such family, as it is directly germane to
the problem before you tonight.
Kimo and Leilani have two children, Junior boy and ~ubba. both Kimo and
Leilani have full time jobs until Limo is laid off They tackle the problem
head on, they fire the yard boy, don't eat out three nights a week, cancel the
cable TV and sell the second car. They wind up just about $56.00 a month
short of a balanced budget. So the parents agree to independently come up
with ideas to balance the budget and then work out a solution.
i~hen they get together Leilani suggests that since each child gets $50.00 a
month in allowance that they cut it in half and the few extra dollars could be
made up by having only brunch and supper on the week ends. Limo is more
inventive and suggests they take $31.00 from ~ubba (who's too young to ~ ,
Co~~. Noe
bile No.
r~ee. M~eY 16
know the difference) acid $19.00 from Junior boy. Bubba could skip lunch
every day to make up the remaining few dollars.
Limo found out later that he lost his job because the twidgets he was selling
for X25.00 cost the company ®.00 to produce. lIad that leaf been plugged
earlier, the farngly just might have avoided some pain.
I would suggest that the Council is both the twidget company selling tax
bills for X25.00 that cost ~~0.00 to produce and I~iyno who would have ~6~est
I~Iawaii homeo~~Aners None be the ~ubba.
~ecentiy, one of your members accused me of being in~amxnatory. I'~n
proud to be so if in the process I can build a arc under certain portion of
your ~torny ~.nd get you to realize that the homeowners of this community
are not going to continue to be your ~ubba's, while you won't even ire the
yard boy, let alone loop at the other economies available to let all County
Citizen's share fairly the cost of our goverment.
Please start plugging a leaks and quit expecting West Hawaii homeowners
to pay two thirds of the cost of the pumps for one third of County services.
If any Council Member has a re~1 interest in cutting the cost of gover~ent,
you are more than welcome to contact me for suggestions. I cert~.inly don't
have a.ll e answers, but if you folks and c Mayor continue to maintain the
status quo you create a Nest ~-Iawaii County, which I believe, would be
a big mistake.
Mahalo,
Keith Ding
?3-9~4 wawa St.
I~ailuaal~ona, I-fI 9b740