HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-02-11 Letter to Donovan M. Dela Cruz and Gilbert S.C. Keith-Agaran SB 1433 Relating to Taxation
County of Hawai‘i
Office of the Mayor
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County of Hawai‘i is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer.
Wil Okabe
Managing Director
Harry Kim
Mayor
Barbara J. Kossow
Deputy Managing Director
February 11, 2019
Senator Donovan M. Dela Cruz, Chair
Senator Gilbert S.C. Keith-Agaran, Vice Chair
Committee on Ways and Means
Dear Chair Dela Cruz, Vice Chair Keith-Agaran, and Committee Members:
RE: SB 1433 Relating to Taxation
Thank you for this opportunity to testify in favor of SB 1433, with a request for an amendment. But first,
I would like to thank you for your support for the Hawaiʻi County disaster recovery bills, SB 1302 and HB 1180.
You know how important those bills will be for our entire community, and we are grateful and want to publicly
acknowledge all those who pulled together to get us this far.
With respect to SB 1433, we fully support Maui’s request for more time to adopt a surcharge on the
GET. The County of Hawaiʻi has benefited from extensions in prior Sessions, and we trust you will extend a
similar opportunity to our sister County.
At the same time, a top priority for me this Session has been to get some flexibility in how GET
surcharge funds can be spent. Therefore, we would ask that you consider amending SB 1433 by adding a
new provision.
The amendment we seek would be straightforward, would not be open ended, and could read as
follows:
HRS 46-16.8 (f) Each county with a population equal to or less than
five hundred thousand that adopts a county surcharge on state tax ordinance
pursuant to this section shall use the surcharges received from the State
for:
(1) Operating or capital costs of public transportation within each
county for public transportation systems, including public roadways or
highways, public buses, trains, ferries, pedestrian paths or
sidewalks, or bicycle paths; [and]
(2) Expenses in complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990 with respect to paragraph (1)[.];
(3) Infrastructure;
(4) Public safety; and
(5) Any combination of the uses enumerated in this subsection."
February 11, 2019
Page 2
County of Hawai`i is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer.
Such an amendment would be very important for Hawaiʻi County, would benefit the other neighbor
islands as well, and is perfectly compatible with Maui’s extension request.
This Committee was willing to give us flexibility last year, but the language that was used created
concerns. This time, we worked to make sure the language would be acceptable, and President Kouchi
introduced a bill for us that proposed this language.
Please be assured that it is not our intent to downgrade transportation, but simply to recognize the need
for the County to have a balanced budget, without further increasing property taxes or furloughing workers and
reducing services.
Please amend SB 1433, and give it your favorable vote so that it can be further considered this
Session.
Respectfully Submitted,
Harry Kim
MAYOR