Kaua‘i voters will be voting in November on a controversial charter amendment that would roll back and cap certain property tax assessments for homeowners. The Kaua‘i County Clerk’s Office verified Friday that a sufficient number of petition signatures have been
Kaua‘i voters will be voting in November on a controversial charter amendment that would roll back and cap certain property tax assessments for homeowners.
The Kaua‘i County Clerk’s Office verified Friday that a sufficient number of petition signatures have been turned in to place the proposed County Charter amendment on the November general election ballot.
If Kauaians approve the ballot measure, residents who occupy their homes would see their property tax rates reduced to the tax amount they paid in 1989-1999, according to Ohana Kauai, which is proposing the initiative.
Group members said the county could see a yearly reduction of $1 million in revenues if the ballot measure is approved by voters.
But group members said the decrease can be made up by raising the rates of other tax categories.
Approval of the initiative, Ohana Kauai members contend, would protect long-time residents from being taxed off their land in the face of spiraling property assessments brought on by high-priced and repeat re-sales since 1999.
Members of Ohana submitted to the Kaua‘i County Clerk’s Office as many as 2,630 signatures for the initiative to be put on the ballot. Only 1870 signatures were required.
“Yeah, that is good news. I just hope people vote it in,” said Ming Fang, a group member and a resident of Kilauea.
The initiative also proposes to limit tax increases to 2 percent a year in 2006, a year after the proposal takes effect.
For residents who buy homes after 1998, the rollback would be applied to the year they bought their home.
Dr. Monroe Richman, a member of the group contended that “there will be no financial impact to the county” from the approval of the measure.
He said the county can raise other tax categories, and has “the totals necessary to make up any deficit.”
The other categories relate to businesses, hotels, hospitals and other entities.
County finance officials weren’t immediately available for comment.
Richman contended County Clerk Peter Nakamura made it difficult for his group to get the required number of signatures so that the initiative could be put on the election ballot.
The group began its petition drive in May, and seven weeks ago, the group submitted 2,300 signatures, Richman said.
At the time, “we were told that 800 of the signatures were disqualified” because the signatures were from people who had moved from Kaua‘i or had not voted in previous elections, Richman said. The group also was told that some of the signatures belonged to felons, Richman said.
In addition to getting the signatures, the group also was required by Nakamura to obtain the address of petition-signers, Richman said.
The county charter, however, doesn’t require addresses be included with the submittal of signatures, Richman contended.
“Walter Lewis (a group member) and I met with Peter and his staff, and we discussed this, and we wanted to know why we were asked to provided addresses as well,” Richman said.
But county officials said the group had agreed to provide the addresses as well as the signatures in its submittals to county clerk’s office.
Seven weeks ago, the group discovered that it was 340 signatures shy of what was required, and gathered another 1,000 signatures, with the addresses, by the June 25 submittal deadline, Richman said.”
“We went through the added trouble of verifying the address because we had lost confidence in the county clerk’s office,” Richman said.
Richman also was concerned that the county clerk’s office only told two members of the ad-hoc group that the signature filings had been validated, and had not officially told the public. Nakamura had called him to tell him that the filings had been validated, Lewis said. “I am waiting for a confirmation letter,” Lewis said.
Nakamura declined to comment on the complaints.
Ron Kouchi, a former chairman of the Kaua‘i County Council and now a board member of the Kauai Island Utility Co-operative, and Abel Medeiros, a retired member of the county council and community leader in Po‘ipu, have come out in support of the initiative, Richman said.
“I am pleased to announce that Abel Medeiros and Ron Kouchi have agreed to act as co-chairpersons to help the initiative pass,” Richman said.
The group proposed the measure as a way to provide an immediate solution to rising property taxes that have forced some longtime residents off their properties.
Property assessments have continued to climb with repeat, high-priced sale of homes to Mainland buyers moving to Kaua‘i.
The group that proposed the ballot initiative includes John Hoff, a Republican who is seeking long-time Democratic incumbent Ezra Kanoho’s state House Seat; “Doc” Gordon Smith and his wife, LuAnne and Glenn Mickens, a government watchdog.
Lester Chang, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) and mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net
