• Tax reform, affordable housing Tax reform, affordable housing Another to it looks inning was completed Thursday in the ongo-ing baseball game between the Ohana Kauai and the County of Kaua‘i. Depending on who you talk like each team scored
• Tax reform, affordable housing
Tax reform, affordable housing
Another to it looks inning was completed Thursday in the ongo-ing baseball game between the Ohana Kauai and the County of Kaua‘i. Depending on who you talk like each team scored a run in court in Lihu‘e, but the game is still tied as we await the next inning.
Mayor Bryan Baptiste is adamant that the County Char-ter amendment that would roll back residential property taxes will be thoroughly checked before, and if, it is ever implemented.
The Ohana Kauai group, who successfully placed the property tax reform issue on the general election ballot last year, are pushing ahead with their insistence that the roll back be implemented, and soon.
It appears that the game will be decided by Judge George Masuoka, perhaps before spring. The issue is mul-tifaceted, with voters’ rights being violated as a side issue to the question of lower property taxes for local residents who reside in homes they own.
While the Ohana Kauai ballot issue will likely one day bring about some property tax reform, showing how much ability the voters have on their own to change our County Charter is perhaps a bigger issue, and the one our politicians might actually be fighting more than property tax reform.
On the affordable housing front, the owners of Kauai Lagoons are moving ahead with projects in Lihu‘e and at Wailua. This is great news, and should provide rental housing for hundreds of workers who probably can’t af-ford most of the few long-term rentals that now come on the market. Our growing economy, with Costco on the way and construction projects humming along, will be stifled without affordable rentals and homes to purchase for the average worker.
As these affordable projects move ahead we hope gov-ernment moves at the same pace as the projects’ develop-er. The developers finding a smooth path through the gov-ernment offices in Lihu‘e when they face the permitting process would help greatly in bringing these projects in sooner rather than later. Let’s hope that’s what happens.
As predicted here following last year’s election, hous-ing and the taxes on homeowner-owned housing are key issues for 2005.
Our Legislators need to move ahead in this direction too.
Watch for updates on affordable housing bills in The Garden Island as the current session takes shape.
