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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0589.008 2002-2004 C~ 4 May 2004 c,~ ~ c ~ - To: Hawaii County Council members - s From: John Y. Ota, Taxpayer of this County Subj: Oppose all Proposals pertaining to increase of County TaxesBond J Mayor Kim has requested the Council's approval to increase the Gasoline Sales Tex. o The money the county will receive from this increase will provide additional personnel to maintain the County Roads. Council Chairman Arakaki proposed a counter offer to the Mayor's request by increasing the Vehicle Weight Tax.. Council Member Chung proposed an alternative offer to the Mayor's request by floating a Bond. All of these events happened recently, as reported by the Tribune Herald. The three proposals above aze estimates or so-called educated guess work, however the originators of each proposal do not know the exact cost of what it will take to meet the needs for the people. Since this is an Election yeaz I wonder if the Citizens of West Hawaii attempting to create a 2"d County within the Big Island have any impact on the above proposals? Or the constant loud complaints of the crowded Road conditions in West Hawaii have any impact? As a concerned Citizen of this County I have the following question. 1. What does the phrase "additional personnel to maintain County Roads" mean? If this generalized phrase pertains to additional personnel to cut grass, trees, shrubs along the sides (Right of way)of the County Roads, I must object to all three proposals. My reasoning for making this statement is as follows. a. Someone representing the County recently stated in the Tribune Herald that there are approximately 9,000 miles of County Roads on the Big Island. This statement was not followed up with a map of this Island indicating which Roads aze County responsibility. How is the Public supposed to know where all of the County Roads aze? There are a combination of State, County, old Sugar Cane plantation Roads and Private Roads on this Island. The State Roads may be mazked with Highway 19 signs, however, majority of the County Roads are not marked for the public to know if it is a County Road or not. The specifics to provide exact information to the Public is missing and the statement made could be a cover up for something else. b. County and State personnel who cut the grass, shrubs and trees along the roadside, work about 4 hours a day, actually performing their assigned work. Time to check in/check out, going to and returning from the work site, time to check the equipment that they are operating, break time, lunch time, these are all deducted from their normal productive, so called, 8 hour work day. Each Comm. Na S ~q Ref. Ta enss~t Ref. Date individual may work at the most, 4 hours of productive work for which they were hired. This built in inefficiency of the County work force should not be tolerated by the taxpayer. And the 3 proposals above, if approved, would increase the additional inefficiencies of the County work force? A Contractor can provide a more efficient production method at less cost to the County. A Contractor can double the production per day, compazed to the County. c. It was also stated in one of the Council's meeting by a representative of the County that it would cost more money to "fire" an employee, then to relocate the employee. If this statement is accurate, is the Public supposed to accept the fact that there are a number of employees who are non-productive in their work, regardless where they may be assigned? Why is the Taxpayer paying for anon-productive worker? d. But the real reason for the three proposals above is to appease the Taxpayers in West Hawaii who aze complaining about the crowded Road conditions and also those who aze supporting a 2"d County be established on this Island. Most importantly we must not forget that this is an Election year. Last year I appeared before this same Council and made a presentation called "Unknown Horizons". The objective of the presentation was to awaken the Council members that the uncontrolled land development going on in West Hawaii, Puna, Pahoa azea and other places throughout this Island is increasing the total population on this Island without all of the necessary infrastructure. Additionally, the number of Vehicles will increase proportionately to the increase of the population. Some of the `old roads' in Kona were developed without a "right of way". This provision does not allow the width of the road to be expanded for additional vehicle lanes, without purchasing additional property from land owners. There is a "bottle neck" situation in vehicle travel, especially during peak hours. Whether it is the previous County Administration(s) or the present that allowed the uncontrolled development to go on, is the creator of the problem. The reality of the situation today is for the populace to accept and deal with the problem as an every day living culture? e. All of the above three proposals do not accurately address the real problem.. I offer the following suggestions. 1) Shut down the Planning Commission, in so far as not allowing any further land developments to take place and not allowing any more changes in rezoning. 2) Allow the Planning Commission to create a current master plan for the Big Island for the next 100 years; identify existing Agricultw~e, Homestead and Commercial lands. Identify those lands approved for development but not completed. Identify those lands that are zoned as Agriculture but not used as it is zoned today. Identify State and Federal lands and what there uses are at the present. Do not allow any rezoning, Sale of land by County, State or Federal land until a master plan is developed. 3) Create a commission to make a study on the impact of increase in population and the additional infrastructure required to meet the increase on this Island (No politician or County employees on this Commission). The study should include those lands previously approved for development. The study should include Vehicle traffic on the Roadways, Schools, Hospitals, additional lands to provide housing, Electrical power requirements, Communications, Water, Sewage, Garbage disposal, Environment, and an impact statement. The Commission should also gather what is available now and compaze this against what is required to support the increase. This methodology would be much more inclusive and provide a better understanding to all, including County Government, as to what is really required. 4) This Island should not follow the lead of Oahu and Maui; both of those Islands aze overcrowded with population, vehicle traffic problems, transportation problems and residents find it difficult to purchase any land that is not "postage stamp size" and the price range is inflated above the value of the land. Analyze the commission report and allow the Public to become involved in open discussions. Input from the Public should provide additional information to the County. 5) We, the Public aze the taxpayers of this County and I believe that the People should decide the action to take since the taxpayers will have to foot the bill.