HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0205.002 2010-2012 rift
VW,. 2-05
May , 2011
Hi Donald, 1
I read in this morning's Tribune Herald that Councilman Hoff mann plans to
introduce a resolution to allocate thousands of dollars to pay an outside consultant to
conduct a comprehensive review of the county's property tax system. He states that the
reason for this proposal is because of a public perception of the inequities in the
county's tax code. While the system is not perfect, it is not so broken to warrant
spending valuable money on such a comprehensive review. I was privileged to have sat
on two committees that comprehensively reviewed our county's tax code. The first one
was in the mid- 1990's. The committee consisted of the finance director, a deputy
corporation counsel, and several other county employees including myself. We met for
about 4 hours a day once a month, thoroughly reviewing each section of Chapter 19, and
finally forwarded the recommended changes to the council after the one and a half year
review.
In 2001, Mayor Harry Kim formed a committee to explore ways of improving
some of the programs in the county's real property system. The committee, headed by
then finance director Bill Takaba, consisted of about a dozen employees from various
departments within the county government. I was one of the committee members and we
met twice a month, two hours each time. Community organizations such as the
cattlemen's association and farming organizations were invited to these meetings
especially when the discussions involved the agricultural sections of the ordinance. This
project lasted for two years. A power point presentation was made to the council after
the completion of the project and in 2004, the outgoing council amended several sections
of Chapter 19 with some of the committee's recommendations. Some of the changes
include the 3% growth cap for owner /occupied properties and increased home exemption
amounts. There were many other good brainstorming ideas that were in the power point
presentation that could probably be explored as future amendments to the real property
laws.
1 must apologize for writing this on such short notice but I only read the article
this morning. In conclusion, I feel that if a change in the real property law needs to be
made, review the specific section and amend it accordingly. Please do not spend
thousands of dollars on yet another study because of a public perception. After spending
over three and a half years of my career reviewing the county's real property system, I
am confident that it is fair and equitable.
Thank you for your time.
S�rely,
sof
Wesley Takai
Comm; No, Zo 5 . 7 -
Ref. To f" f F T
Ref. Date MAY 11 2011,