• Bond ratings • Koloa Bypass • Vacation rentals reply • 527 revelations Bond ratings Kaua‘i County has publicly stated the Ohana Kauai Tax Relief Charter Amendment will cause “lower bond ratings for Kaua‘i, resulting in over $3 million in
• Bond ratings
• Koloa Bypass
• Vacation rentals reply
• 527 revelations
Bond ratings
Kaua‘i County has publicly stated the Ohana Kauai Tax Relief Charter Amendment will cause “lower bond ratings for Kaua‘i, resulting in over $3 million in greater interest costs.”
My background in municipal finance made that statement sounded highly suspect to me.
So, I called the two leading municipal bond-rating services, Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s, and spoke with the analysts covering Kaua‘i (and with two municipal bond dealers whom I know), posing a simple question:
If the amendment passes and property taxes on resident home owners drop up to $3 million, will bond ratings fall and interest rates to the county be substantially higher?
The answer in each case was an emphatic no.
However, one ratings analyst opined it would be a red flag that county government did not have the unquestioned support of the voters.
He would put a watch on how the county would handle the situation.
The other rating analyst felt a meeting with the county to assess the response and action plan would be “interesting.” Neither voiced any deep concern about county bond ratings.
Bond dealers saw no reason for any interest-rate increases as a result of the amendment passage, but if there were any they would be tiny.
The county’s claims of lowered bond ratings and higher costs is based on nothing more than its desire to defeat the amendment.
They are misleading and untrue.
To follow the false remarks with the statement that the passage of the amendment will result in a shortfall that would “have to be made up by slicing county services and laying off large groups of employees” smells like yesterday’s catch in the sun without ice!
When the county speaks, the electorate should be able to rely on the statements as being factually true, and the conclusions honest.
C. E. Lanphier
Princeville
Koloa Bypass
It’s hard to believe that nowadays with modern technology and equipment, and years of experience to learn from, that we can have a brand new road built that begins to fail miserably after only ten years!
I’m referring to the Koloa bypass road between Koloa and Po‘ipu.
It’s difficult to comprehend that a road, constructed according to specifications that should be quite rigorous, would already need major repairs from one end to the other.
And the end is nowhere in sight! We all will be paying to patch potholes for years, and eventually a complete repaving.
If only the road had been built right the first time!
I know our tax dollars would be better spent on improving our roads instead of fixing them over and over.
Michael Stauber
Koloa
Vacation rentals reply
In the “Viewpoint” letter published in the 9/11/04 issue of TGI on vacation rentals, the writer yields a sharp knife, and not a small amount of vengeance as she proceeds to slice and dice a large and productive portion of the Kaua‘i populace, her fellow citizens who attended the Sept. 7 Hanalei Ka Leo meeting concerning vacation rentals on Kaua‘i.
Real-estate agents, owners of vacation rentals, and vacation-rental managers are referred to as “delusional mercenaries,” “akin to prostitutes.”
Further, the writer conveniently puts all people who come to Kaua‘i into one of two boxes: the “how can I blend in” box, and the “how can I change things to my liking and make a killing” box.
Really, is life all that simple?
Has she considered the fact that many resident owners use their property in a spirit of aloha to welcome visitors while trying to survive ever-spiraling costs of ownership, especially ballooning real property taxes?
As far as the writer’s question, “What good are zoning laws if everyone ignores them?” I wonder if the writer realizes that while there is no law prohibiting a single-family residence from being used as a vacation rental, there are zoning laws about second units in single-family homes which, if enforced island-wide, would put upwards of 5,000 long-term renters right out onto the street.
Perhaps it is time to re-examine some of our archaic zoning laws, and to elect progressive legislators who understand how to foster a balance by dangling a financial carrot instead of brandishing a legal stick.
Please let’s be civil.
Let’s quit the name calling, and let’s all try to keep an open mind and understand each other’s viewpoint.
Bruce Fehring
Kilauea
527 revelations
Move-on.org and a host of other (527) organizations have funded between 65-70 million dollars of money into a lop-sided attack and smear effort directed at President Bush.
The billionaires behind this mud slinging are George Soros, Steven Bing, Theresa Hines-Kerry and a majority of Hollywood liberal elites.
A disproportionate $3 million has been utilized by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in an effort to educate the public with their admittedly independent perception that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry is inappropriate as a US commander in chief.
These ads are apparently striking a raw nerve, causing the Kerry camp to cry foul by filing FEC (Federal Elections Commission) complaints and threatening litigation against the Vietnam veterans who served with other Swift-Boat units and observed first-hand the numerous discrepancies in his questionable historical recollections of wartime events.
Kerry now accuses these honorable veterans of being minions for Bush, and called upon the president to denounce these embarrassing 527 revelations.
In a recent press conference, President Bush called for “all 527 ads to cease.”
Kerry now refuses to follow suit, and he has refrained from denouncing any of the $60-plus million in advertising that his soft-money supporters have provided in comparing Bush to Hitler.
Apparently the truth is hurting candidate Kerry, but his double standard is causing more injury to his credibility than any he ever received in combat.
Senator Kerry now wants to suppress the first amendment rights of any media outlets airing the Swift Boat ads, and has attempted to intimidate people by threatening lawsuits if his past is dredged up for scrutiny.
Kerry is a hypocrite, because he can’t handle the truth of his own previous actions, and it is blatantly obvious that he is unfit for command under any circumstances!
Robert Louis
Kapa‘a
