LIHUE — On the third day, increases continued. The Kauai County Council on Wednesday approved a set of tax and fee hikes intended to balance the county’s budget and avoid projected dips in funding for public access and open space
LIHUE — On the third day, increases continued.
The Kauai County Council on Wednesday approved a set of tax and fee hikes intended to balance the county’s budget and avoid projected dips in funding for public access and open space projects over the next fiscal year.
What this could mean for residents are increases in motor vehicle weight taxes and non-residential tipping fees over the next fiscal year, if the Kauai County Council approves their revised version of the 2014-2015 fiscal year budget.
“This whole budget session, but this particular issue of open space, has taken a lot of dialogue and looking for money, as well as cuts, belt tightening and revenue increases,” Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura said. “We are, today, able to renew our commitment to protecting and acquiring open space and public access, which are very important values to keeping Kauai, Kauai and benefiting our community in an enduring way.”
The measure to increase the county’s motor vehicle weight tax from $0.0125 to $0.02 for passenger vehicles and $0.025 to $0.03 for commercial vehicles beginning on Jan. 1 passed by a 4-3 vote. Councilmen Gary Hooser, Ross Kagawa and Mel Rapozo cast the dissenting votes against that measure.
These would raise the taxes on an average compact car from around $50 to $80 and average sedan from around $62.50 to $100.
The second measure to raise the county’s landfill tipping fees from $90 to $119 per ton beginning on July 1 passed by a 5-2 vote. Kagawa and Rapozo cast the dissenting votes against that measure.
After three days of meetings, the council balanced its $182.3 million budget Wednesday.
Before the County Council’s budget deliberations began on Monday, Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. and his administration recommended that the seven-member board approve a measure to lower the minimum percentage of real property taxes set aside for the county’s Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund from 1.5 to 0.5 percent. The move, Carvalho explained, would have allowed his administration to redirect about $849,805 to the county’s reserve fund for emergencies and natural disasters.
But a number of cuts, reductions and tax increases approved on Monday and Tuesday, helped to stave off those projected reductions. Approving the fee and tax increases on Wednesday, some council members said, were the last factors needed to balance the county’s budget.
Doing so, however, was not easy for some council members.
“I was intending to look for the funds to fully fund the open space fund, and if we needed to, if we had to choose between further taxing or borrowing from an existing fund, I would have chosen the latter,” Councilman Mel Rapozo said. “I’m going to support this because the money was found, but I think the public has to understand that we can’t print money like the federal government and we need to have mechanisms in place. As much as I hate raiding special funds, if that’s all you got, then that’s all you’ve got.”
A public hearing on the mayor’s revised budget is scheduled for the Kauai County Council’s May 21 public meeting, beginning at 9 a.m. in the Historic County Building’s Council Chambers. The seven-member board’s Committee of the Whole will also discuss their revisions to the mayor’s budget during the same meeting.
If passed next week, the final decision on the County Council’s revisions to the mayor’s budget will be taken up during their May 28 public meeting.
