• Property taxes • On smart meters • Electricity costs • Co-op or dictatorship • Hypocrisy Property taxes As property taxes are based on assessed values, certainly the amount nonresident owners pay is less, as the values of their properties
• Property taxes • On smart meters
• Electricity costs • Co-op or
dictatorship • Hypocrisy
Property taxes
As property taxes are based on assessed values, certainly the amount nonresident owners pay is less, as the values of their properties has decreased from the peak values of 2005-2007. Likewise for residents.
However, nonresident owners pay a higher rate — about twice what we as residents pay.
.We have many benefits, being lucky to live on Kaua‘i, that nonresidents (who pay higher property taxes, which is the basis of our county’s income) can’t take advantage of — such as our great resident golf rates at most of the beautiful courses on this spectacular island.
We should appreciate the fact that nonresident property owners and the hotels, etc., pay much higher taxes which I think allows us to pay less.
Am I missing something?
Tom Bartlett, Koloa
On smart meters
Enough of the scare tactics.
Memo to KIUC: Please install a smart meter at my residence.
Murray Hudson, Princeville
Electricity costs
Joseph Lowery needs to go back to Home Depot and pick up a “Little Gray Box” timer for his electric water heater.
It is easy to install, and once set for an hour or so in the morning and evening, he won’t be using expensive KIUC electricity to heat water when he and his family don’t need it.
A cheaper alternative would be to simply turn off the water heater circuit breaker when it is not needed.
As for the smart meters, I think they can be a good thing. For example, when my water heater thermostat failed, the heater stayed on around the clock.
A smart meter could have detected this high usage and alerted me to the problem before my electric bill had doubled.
At that, I do not agree with Mr. Mickens that KIUC needs to consult its members for what are essentially business decisions.
They should certainly be held responsible for any bad decisions, but they are the professionals and should be given the leeway to act accordingly.
Steve Hansen, Kekaha
Co-op or dictatorship
The KIUC board has decided for us. You’ll get smart meters and you’ll like it.
Even if you don’t like it, you’ll get them. Is this the way a co-op works? Not supposed to vote. No discussion. No opt- out option.
One has to wonder why this was done in such a secret manner.
When something like this happens, the logical path is follow the money.
How were KIUC board members persuaded to purchase these meters?
Whenever something is shoved down your throat by secret meetings and forced compliance, there is always a reason other than for the greater good. You can sell the greater good in public meetings and by the facts.
This wasn’t the case here, so I say follow the money.
Write the PUC. Remember who the board members are and make sure they are voted out.
Make your displeasure known and don’t give up.
As sure as the sun rises, there is something dirty going on behind the scenes.
John Humphrey, Hanalei
Hypocrisy
Guantanamo during the Bush years was the Democrats’ symbol of radicalism and ugly Americanism.
So much so that the rising star, Obama, used Guantanamo, not as a secondary but primary plank in his campaign.
One of his many unfulfilled promises was to close the brig and end the national security policies which he criticized as inconsistent with U.S. laws and values.
But never mind his empty rhetoric, and by all means, please ignore his broken promises. He is, after all, one of the “good guys,” and needs our support.
A poll by the Washington Post-ABC News shows that a whopping 67 percent of self-proclaimed progressives are choosing Obama, “right or wrong.”
Well, here is a reality check for these hypocritical so-called progressives.
On Feb. 5, the Los Angeles Times ran an interview with Michael Hayden, no shrinking violet when it comes to National Security. He was, after all, Bush’s CIA and NSA Chief .
In the interview he talked about Obama’s use of pilot-less drones to kill “suspected” terrorists including American citizens.
“Right now, there isn’t a government on the planet that agrees with our legal rationale for these operations, except for Afghanistan and maybe Israel,” Hayden said.
He went on to talk about the assassination of Anwar Awlaki, an American citizen born in New Mexico who was killed by a drone last September.
“We needed a court order to eavesdrop on him,” Hayden notes, “but we didn’t need a court order to kill him. Isn’t that something?”
How’s that for change you can believe in?
Gy Hall, Kilauea
