HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-04-16 Bill 121 Don and Kerrill Kephart April 16, 2024
Once again we want to protest against proposed legislation to impose even more expenses and
hoops to jump through for hosts of STVRs in Hawaii County. We are already paying almost
20% off the top of our earned income for state and county TAT and GET taxes. Additional fees
make us feel as if we are being gouged just because we have been successful. We have been
renting out a five-bedroom house for 34 years as a STVR. We live on the property and manage
it ourselves. In all of that time, we have never had one complaint. We enforce noise
regulations, pay our taxes, and provide ample off-street parking. Our vacation rental is clean
and well maintained. We keep our rates low so that we can provide an affordable venue for
multi-generational families to enjoy our island and one another's company. We also provide a
venue for medical students, science teams, church groups, construction workers, meditation
groups, yoga groups, athletes and their families, health workers, etc. Our clientele is not
attracted to hotels or to condos in resort areas. They simply will find somewhere more
hospitable to spend their money.
We feel as if it is unfair to cut our income off or to charge us even more for the service we are
providing. We built the house as owner-builders with the idea of it helping us (two retired public
schoolteachers) make ends meet in a state that has an excessively high standard of living. We
have tried to follow the rules and color inside the lines while watching the county ignore those
who haven't been so meticulous. Your emphasis should be on more equitable and rigorous tax
collection and more accountability on those owners of STVRs who are not playing by the rules.
Those of us who are trying to do the right thing should not have to pay the consequences for
those who are not. Creating more rules to enforce when you cannot hold people accountable
for the rules you already have seems counterproductive and foolish.
Our county council is supposed to represent all of us—including those of us who count on the
income from our STVRs to augment our retirement income. The pushback against all of this
legislation has been palpable and powerful, but most of us feel as if our representatives are not
listening. Heather Kimball is hellbent on soldiering on, fueled by her erroneous belief that she is
going to solve the housing shortage by penalizing us. Sometimes it is wiser to listen to the
concerns of your constituency rather than just doubling down on your own agenda. This new
legislation, should it pass, will be crippling to hosts and will have a negative impact on the
economy of the Big Island. It also sends the wrong message to visitors who want to spend
some time in the Aloha state.
Please enforce the rules you have and don't penalize us for following those rules and for
creating a successful business that supplements our retirement income.
Thank you.
Don and Kerrill Kephart
donkephart@earthlink.net
808-882-7321