HomeMy WebLinkAboutComm No 0024.121 - Testimony - CA-9 - staff for PONC fund and Maintenance fundFrom: jbklyman@yahoo.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 2, 2019 10:05 AM
To: jbklyman@yahoo.com
Subject: 2% LAND FUND PROGRAM
Dear County Council members:
would like to see these funds actually directed to acquiring these lands, instead of County leadership
members attempting to find other ways to re -direct these funds due to other budget
pressures. Please help us to plug these re -directs - to do what is proper and to meet the requests of
the people. If you clarify the charter amendment to match the "spirit" of the intent to acquire these
lands, please make this language plain, simple and eliminate any possibility to redirect these funds to
other programs.
If the county does not want to mateine these newly acquired lands, I understand this. Being a
member for "Friends of Volcano National Park" I can see there is volunteer concern out there for
these lands, but there is only so much incentive and care people can keep donating to the
effort. With the current Not for Profits already donating time and materials for land maintenance,
imagine the additional care that could be achieved if some of these land funds were used to help pay
for the maintenance care. Please consider this language as part of the amendment process.
Thank You.
Jim Klyman, Keaau
The Charter Commission has helped to strengthen the 2% LAND FUND PROGRAM, but we need
your help with 2 things not yet accomplished to strengthen the 2% Land Fund Program:
1. Make changes to Charter Amendment -9 deals with ONE full time employee to work ONLY on
the 2% Land Fund Program.
2. Make changes to Charter Amendment 18- deals with the Maintenance Fund and allows the
non-profit stewardship groups to pay people who work on the land.
CA -9 ONE PERSON PAID FROM THE 2% LAND FUND TO WORK ONLY ON THE
LAND FUND.
Black print is what the Charter commission is proposing. The RED Additions are what we would like
to see included in the language:
CA -9: 3) "Pay for the salary, wages and benefits of a rr a„tlall:1i. rrra_ t ara_f11rf 112y .a , _t y tri .a
1)epaMirtment of Finance dedicated only to advancing administering the activities contained within this
section and Section 10-16 of this charter h i:Oitioi tia provided for in the
:AD/ ell. �5➢�1'➢t Godo �➢ a: l rld a /"alll�ll�° ��°�'a ➢ 'al'➢ ➢a: °d a a:➢1'➢(.� �11a:➢tllla: � � 'x''12111. °d=:'a5 oini"➢➢lc'clJr)
This seems like a simple matter. We are asking for the red clarifying language.
Otherwise WE WILL RUN A JUST SAY NO CAMPAIGN. WHY?
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Comm. No. 24.121
It sounds good but the word "staff" is ambiguous, would the 2% Land Fund pay for only one
position or 3 or 5 or more? The 2% Land Fund could end up funding multiple staff positions, which
will reduce the purchasing power of the 2% Land Fund. This is NOT what we voted for. Remember,
2% of our property taxes are only $5 million per year, which is 1.5% of the income into the county and
it adjusts according to property values in times of recession. $5 million per year can only buy one
or two properties.
THE LAND FUND IS NOT WORKING AS WELL AS IT SHOULD and WHY we need ONE full time
person to work ONLY on the Land Fund Program:
1. There is $22 million sitting in the fund, no land has been purchased since May 2018
2. There have been almost 200 properties proposed by citizens for purchase.
3. Only 14 properties have been acquired in 14 years.
4. Only 1/3 of the money spent to purchase land has been in matching funds at least 50% should
be in matching funds to maximize the most important potential of an existing land fund.
5. Only 9% of the money deposited in the Maintenance Fund has been received by the non-
profits
6. HOW CAN WE DO BETTER?
• BY HIRING ONE FULL TIME PERSON TO WORK ONLY ON THE 2% LAND FUND
PROGRAM and
• BY ALLOWING THE STEWARDSHIP GROUPS TO PAY PEOPLE TO WORK ON
THE LAND.
Since October the Save our Land's Citizen's Committee has proposed that the Department of
Finance use part of the 2% Land Fund money to pay ONE person to work ONLY On the Land Fund
because more than one salary wages and benefits for a highly qualified person with law or real estate
conservation experience would equal $100,000. This is in addition to the staff provided by the Hawaii
County Code to assist the PONC commission. See the 2 staff positions that are necessary to run the
2% land Fund Program. We have an opportunity to strengthen the 2% Land Fund Program IF there
is someone doing the work. An real estate person or attorney qualified in conservation land
acquisitions would be able to negotiation more land purchases, acquire more matching funds and
help the stewardship non- profit groups obtain more grant funding. This from the County of Hawaii
HR department for the 2 staff positions that are necessary. The first would be paid by the 2% Land
Fund and the second is already paid to support the PONC commission as per the County Code.
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Property Narygement Specialist
2 200
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VdVuVri•y., avetryrs„ and drecls V ranagerredtcorfRHV. and M'sposibol ," 1u4ttormwd IV.,"i and pif 0 41mit pfi fpl ly, ovesees N m nDlidLaWnsr and rNmISmoat
grirrperapy is N'aG1"doCdrhes repigid melodrama. syrwiiLOif ofCENTIJOA roca u. keepl re find merrfarmfaodsrraCWGl performs other rearmed dates as VrPONA .
Property Manage ent Technician
$.3x.2 0.00 • $58,82 An ual.11
Bar!dpeprrdersay performs o;sdurrldly ofarirastarratdo^eade achricalsower see ara.MdOre Properly Many rrent , sprees as dreaddretroM olartrearsoppe
td"i, rY 'agYkperary re" "Vr''Vurg4 6Sgeult ormatone r1„8re radordsr od11e'arrL'Nartr"dbras arg0l V4a'r%'°,i'i of ma w %areteA arad ham dart . rer''slr:;?"ry as Ihh°'" cora OFesslaral a Y`+,I IY ad. ± &IyOa m1°,Ix opAhNP,X,at,✓.I NIP terest..„..
• Real estate deals are time sensitive, they are deadlines for appraisals, endangered species studies,
historical research, title searches and land surveys. It takes time to research available matching funds
and write the grants to gain these funds.
• Conservation land deals require willing sellers. Willing sellers want to be paid as soon as possible
because the taxes keep accruing and they may have a use for the money.
• •A full time staff person can assist the non -profits with getting the funding they need to care for the 2%
Lands. The Maintenance Fund grants have been granted to only 6 organizations in the 6 -year existence
of the fund. The stewardship non-profit groups have received only 9% of all the money deposited in
the Maintenance Fund from 2013. Stewardship groups say the process has been very difficult and they
have had to apply several times before receiving funding.
CA -18- should ALLOW NON -PROFITS TO PAY PEOPLE TO WORK ON
THE LAND.
(This does not mean we pay board members for being board members)
• ALL OF THE NON -PROFITS TESTIFIED THAT THEY NEEDED TO BE ABLE TO PAY PEOPLE TO WORK ON
THE LAND. ONLY 6 GROUPS HAVE RECEIVED A MERE 9% OF THE MONEY DEPOSITED IN THE FUND
SINCE 2013. The County has used the rest.
• There is a safety, a check and balance built into this system. THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND THE
Public access, open space and natural resources commission HAVE TO APPROVE THEIR STEWARDSHIP
GRANT PROPOSAL. IF THEY VIOLATE THIS THEY WILL NEVER BE ALLOWED TO APPLY FOR GRANTS IN
THE FUTURE.
HERE IS OUR PREFERRED LANGUAGE: black is what is proposed by the Charter
Commission, our proposed changes are in red:
[(5)]Q No officer, board member, or employee of the 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization or
the organization that operates under the umbrella of a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization
shall receive a salary or payment for labor or receive any reimbursement for the
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stewardship work on the project, EEL Illilyi!LL4 'L tuutliiiIIIli .12Iii(III1
iwlmal LaL illluii nut mnoillll. The 501(c)3 nonprofit shall sign an agreement
so stating these conditions and submit it with the application.
MAHALO!
Your name
SINCE OCTOBER AT THE CHARTER COMMISSION: There were 371 people that sent in email
testimony on CA -7, CA -8, CA -13 and CA -27. I counted each communication. There were at least 20
people that took time out of their days to attend each of the 10 charter commission meetings and
testify in person that is 200 people. These people represent the 63% of the voting public that voted 3
times to support the Land Fund Program. There were only 2 people that testified against the 2%
Land Fund Program: Mayor Harry Kim and Council Chair Aaron Chung.
FOR YOUR INFORMATION:
BACKGROUND AND HISTORY. The SAVE OUR LANDS CITIZENS COMMITTEE HAS RUN THE 3
CAMPAIGNS AND IS POISED TO RUN A 4TH CAMPAIGN FOR NOVEMBER OF 2020- Each time
the Land Fund was on the ballot- 63% of voters have voted 3 times to support the land fund. We
believe that the aina is the foundation for our tourist industry, which is the biggest employer on the
island. If we don't preserve the beautiful places and our ocean shores why would people come
here? They could go to Waikiki and go shopping and snorkel on a dead reef.
Debbie Hect wrote the existing legislation with Council member Brenda Ford that is in the Hawaii
County Code and the Hawaii County Charter. She was appointed by Mayor Kenoi to serve on the
Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Commission. We learned that the government
would not purchase open space and parklands. So we took the extraordinary measure to run a
petition initiative drive and collected 9,600 signatures to first get the measure on the Ballot. 63% of
voters approved the measure. Then Mayor Kenoi and the Council suspended deposits to the fund for
2 years. We took the next extraordinary measure to move the 2% Land Fund to the charter where it
could only be undone by a vote of the people. That is why we took the huge step of setting aside 2%
of property taxes each year to purchase open space. THAT is the only reason why over 4,400 acres
have been purchased and 2,200 acres will be added soon. Remember, only $5 to $6 million dollars
is added to the 2% Land Fund each year. That is 2% of property taxes, but that amount is only 1.5%
of the total income stream for the County of Hawaii. That is only $5 million per year, which means one
maybe 2 properties that could be purchased each year. There is $700,000 added to the
Maintenance Fund each year. I believe that if 63% of people vote 3 times to support a program that
vote should be honored. I have also been running my own business for 40 years and 1.5% of a
budget is a small amount.
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