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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0394.007 2002-2004 y' .i ~~A HAWAII DIVISION 495 Manono Street Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4422 Telephone: 808.935.6841 Hawaii Government Employees Association Working Together /or Hawaii www.hgea.org Facsimile: 808.961.2437 AFSCME Lo<a1162, AFL-CIO September 13, 2004 Honorable James Arakaki, Chairperson Hawaii County Council 25 Aupuni St. Hilo, HI 96720 Dear Councilman Arakaki: Regarding: Bill #174, Draft 2 [Real Property Tax exemptions] Bill #175, Draft 3 [Real Property Tax valuation] Bill # 176, Draft 2 [Real Property Tax dedication] I am writing to express concern over the above referenced Bills and their effect on the ability of the County to provide services to the residents of Hawaii County. It is my understanding that Bill #174 will reduce real property tax revenues by approximately $3.86 million in FY 2005-2006 and that Bill #175 will reduce real property tax revenues by approximately $2.5 million in FY 2005-2006. I was unable to obtain an estimate on the effect of Bill #176. Clearly, its passage would also reduce revenues. I applaud the Mayor's desire to provide tax relief for Hawaii County homeowners. Many of our members are homeowners who are feeling the sting of rising property values. Property values are cunently on the rise but they may go down in the future. This has happened before. The public demands for services are also high; the likelihood is those demands will not go down in the future. The Mayor and the Council need to look closely at the public's demand for services and how best to provide them. This peak in revenues presents an opportunity to improve services and the `infrastructure' needed to provide those services. This may well be the time to catch up on many years of neglect due to insufficient resources. Property tax relief for homeowners is a laudable goal but it should not be rushed into. It should not be pushed through at the expense of legitimate funding needs. As a representative of County of Hawaii employees, I am aware of many pressing needs that continue to go unfunded due to lack of revenues. Many of these items could be considered the `infrastructure' necessary to carry out the duties of County personnel. Other requirements, particularly in the Police and Fire Departments and in the Office of Comm. No 3 Ref. Topes Ref. Uate CCP i s Anne -o~.-~-a-=_--- the Prosecuting Attorney, include personnel needed to keep up with the growing population of our Island and the problems associated with our Ice Epidemic. Supplemental Budget Requests for FY 2004-2005 were in excess of $11 million. The vast majority of these requests were denied due to lack of funds. One has to question: if money is not available to provide equipment and needed personnel, why are we looking to reduce our revenues? I will provide a few examples of the types of needs I am referring to. They are by no means all inclusive: 1. Parks and Recreation: Nearly al] of the ocean lifeguard towers are in need of replacement or repair two towers were recently torn down due to at least one injury suffered by a rusted out ladder collapsing under the weight of a lifeguard. The Union repeatedly tried to get these towers replaced over the years, only to be told: "there isn't any money." In addition to the towers, we are all well aware that many of our recreational facilities need repair and maintenance. 2. Fire Department: Fire Fighters have been added, but not enough to keep up with the demand for services; there are insufficient support staff to keep up with the needs of the uniformed staff; the Fire vehicle fleet is in need of repair and replacement of older vehicles; at least two Fire Engines are close to 20 years old; only two back-up Fire Engines on the entire island and those vehicles are not in good working condition; and, there currently is no plan for routine replacement of Fire vehicles. 3. Police Deparhnent: Needs additional Police Officers, Supervising Police Officers; Radio Dispatchers; support personnel; vehicles and equipment. Supplemental Budget Requests for FY 2004-2005 were in excess of $5 million. Again, the majority of these requests went unfunded. 4. Prosecuting Attorney: Clerical support staff and Investigators are unable to keep up with demands, especially since the implementation of the Drug Task Force; their aging phone system needs to be replaced; their vehicles need to be replaced, one Ford Taurus has over 150,000 miles on it; they are still using an outdated WANG computer system; State funding for the Victim Witness Program has declined while requests for services have risen; the Office has received Federal Grants for the "Gun Prosecutor" position, however that money will run out and County funding will be needed. 5. Public Works: The Building Permit and Inspection section received numerous complaints of poor service from the public due to inadequate staffing; building permits increased from 2724 in 1997 to 4507 in 2003 with no increase in staff; computerized building permit system is still not fully functional due to lack of funds; nearly all vehicles are way overdue for replacement especially in building inspection where 7 vehicles have over 120,000 miles on them, another 9 have over 95,000 miles, 16 of the 18 vehicles are over 6 years old well beyond their replacement age of 3-4 years; frequent breakdowns delay site inspections thereby raising costs for contractors and increasing the chances of substandard work; delayed repairs place employees and the public at risk; and, County facilities aze becoming dilapidated due to lack of funding for building repairs and maintenance. This also creates unsafe conditions for the public and the employees. The Automotive Division is unable to properly service County vehicles due to lack of equipment, training and personnel; Engineering Division - 5 of the 9 inspection vehicles are at least 7 yeazs old with odometer readings in excess of 70,000 miles. The Division lacks funding for software, training and equipment; there is no funding to promote and improve road grading and flood prevention programs. The above list does not include requests from: Data Systems, Finance, Corporation Counsel, Planning, Civil Service, Civil Defense, Mass Transit and Environmental Management. As you can see, the demands are great. Police and Fire protection aze important but so are the other functions of government. There aze many health and safety issues for the public and for the County employees that aze not being met. In addition to other safety concerns, old poorly maintained vehicles are an unfunded liability for the County. I urge the Council to insure that the County will be able to address these issues before you take steps to reduce revenue collections. I urge you to postpone action on these Bills until you are sure that the remaining revenue collections will be sufficient to meet the demands placed on the County. Sincerely, Ralph C. Boyea Hawaii Division Chief, HGEA Cc: Councilman Fred Holschuh Councilman Michael Tulang Councilman Aaron Chung Councilman Gary Safarik Councilman Robert Jacobson Councilman Joe Reynolds Councilman Curtis Tyler Mayor Harry Kim