LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i County Council will look Wednesday at a recommendation by its own Planning Committee to approve a bill that increases by 200 percent the county’s contribution to the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund.
LIHU‘E — The Kaua‘i County Council will look Wednesday at a recommendation by its own Planning Committee to approve a bill that increases by 200 percent the county’s contribution to the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund.
“This bill is to increase the minimum amount that goes into the Public Access, Open Spaces Commission,” said Councilman Tim Bynum at a meeting Tuesday.
The commission was established years ago by Kaua‘i Charter amendment.
The charter requires a minimum of 0.5 percent of real property tax revenues to be put into a fund to be used to acquire property identified by the commission for public use and benefit.
Bill 2453 proposes to increase that amount to 1.5 percent. This would mean an increase of the county’s annual contribution to the fund from $470,000 to $1.21 million, based on last year’s RPT revenues.
“It really is to empower the commission and give them the resources they need to make a difference,” Bynum said.
While the increase to 1.5 percent may be a significant boost, it still falls short when compared to Maui and Big Island counties, which supply a similar fund with 2 percent of their RPT revenues, and have pumped additional money into their funds, according to Bynum.
In 2006, the commission had recommended a funding increase to 2 percent of the RPT, and reiterated this position in 2008 and 2009, according to Councilman Dickie Chang.
Former commission member Jean Souza said the commission in 2010 voted down a proposal to reiterate the position because of the county furloughs of that year.
“This is obviously something very, very long overdue,” Chang said.
The bill received favorable testimony from Commission Chair Joseph Figaroa and Souza, who said she was “enthusiastic” about the proposal. Figaroa said he strongly supports the bill.
He cited a presentation months ago from Council Vice Chair JoAnn Yukimura, in which a “loss of opportunity” was stressed, regarding acquiring public lands for public benefit.
Whenever a good opportunity presents itself, the commission needs to find matching funds to acquire a property, but by the time all efforts are put together successfully, the property is already sold, according to Figaroa.
The proposal, he said, “allows us to prevent that.”
The council’s agenda for next Wednesday has Bill 2453 for second and final reading.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
