LIHU‘E — Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste said yesterday his administration is ready to respond to any decision a state judge may make on the county’s challenge of the constitutionality of the Ohana Kauai tax measure charter amendment. During a meeting
LIHU‘E — Mayor Bryan J. Baptiste said yesterday his administration is ready to respond to any decision a state judge may make on the county’s challenge of the constitutionality of the Ohana Kauai tax measure charter amendment.
During a meeting with the media in his office at the Lihu‘e Civic Center, Baptiste said he will implement the Ohana Kauai charter amendment if state Judge George Masuoka declares it constitutional.
At the same time, if Masuoka agrees with county officials that the measure illegally takes away the taxing power of the county and is unconstitutional, Baptiste said he and the Kaua‘i County Council will move forward with appropriate tax-relief measures.
“It is my job to make sure what we implement is legal,” Baptiste.
The outcome of the court battle could determine how quickly property owners — those who own their homes and live in them — can see relief from high tax bills.
The increases have been brought about by spiraling assessments from fast-paced property sales. The trend has raised the risk of forcing longtime homeowners off their properties.
Ohana Kauai folks said their measure will bring relief in the early part of fiscal year 2005-2006. Baptiste promised county officials will begin to forge tax-relief measures if the charter amendment becomes a moot point.
The Ohana Kauai proposal advocates reducing property taxes for residents who occupy their homes to the tax amount they paid in 1998.
The initiative also would limit tax increases to 2 percent a year in 2006, a year after the proposal would take effect.
On Monday, Nov. 22, county officials filed a preliminary injunction asking Masuoka to order Baptiste, the Kaua‘i County Council and Kaua‘i County Director of Finance Michael Tresler, in their official capacities as public servants, to refrain from implementing the charter amendment until a “full judicial review” of legal issues is completed.
Baptiste said yesterday that, as mayor, he has to implement what is legally required of him. “If he (Masuoka) declares it legal, we will be ready to work toward implementation,” he said.
In a statement, Baptiste also said that both he and the council will continue to move toward the goal of “equitable tax relief” for all taxpayers, not just the homestead class that the Ohana Kauai measure targets.
“The County Council and I remain committed to implementing equitable tax relief for all Kaua‘i citizens,” Baptiste said. “I believe that the mandate of the people was for tax relief, which we all rightfully deserve.”
But Ohana Kauai proponents said residents in the homestead class — those who live in their homes and own them — have suffered the hardest blows from high tax bills, and that they specifically targeted that class of taxpayers for protection.
During yesterday’s media chat, Baptiste said some residents have informed administration officials that Kaua‘i voters approved the charter amendment during the Nov. 2 general election, and that he should halt legal challenges to the measure.
He said he can’t do that, because challenging the measure is one of his official duties as mayor.
In county matters where legal questions arise, residents expect him to further examine the issues, Baptiste said.
“The mayor cannot unilaterally and outside of his authority determine whether an issue meets all legal requirements,” Baptiste said in a statement. “It is the mayor’s fiduciary responsibility to confirm issues of legality.”
Baptiste said the charter amendment will very likely bring tax relief that everyone wants, but “as mayor when advised that a charter amendment may be unconstitutional, it is my obligation to look further into the issue.”
Deputy County Attorney Carmen Wong, who is working on the case, said the Kaua‘i County Attorney’s Office also doesn’t have the power to declare a voter initiative illegal based solely on its content.
Kaua‘i County Clerk Peter Nakamura was obligated to put the measure on the Nov. 2 ballot once minimum requirements were met, including Ohana Kauai members and supporters securing a sufficient number of petition signatures of registered voters, Wong said. Wong said the Kaua‘i County Charter doesn’t “indicate that the county attorney must first determine the legality of voter initiatives.”
Contrary to what critics have said, county attorneys didn’t file the county’s court challenge just days before the Nov. 2 general election to upset the election process, Baptiste said.
Based on research by consulting attorneys and a review of case law, “it was concluded” that the constitutional questions posed by the then-proposed charter amendment should be subject to the court’s scrutiny prior to the (Nov. 2) election,” Wong said in a statement.
Baptiste said, as mayor, he was duty-bound to have the matter sent to the court system to resolve legal matters.
County attorneys filed the lawsuit on Oct. 25 in Fifth Circuit Court, contesting the constitutionally of the Ohana measure.
Kaua‘i Deputy County Attorney Margaret Sueoka, who attended the press meeting, said Masuoka took key actions on Nov. 22:
- He denied a motion by Ohana Kauai to dismiss the county’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the charter amendment;
- He declared Ohana Kauai leaders and their attorney lack standing to obtain intervenor status in the case;
- Masuoka continued the hearing on motions from individuals from the group to intervene in the case.
Lester Chang, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or lchang@pulitzer.net.
