Property tax bills
are down for some,
up in other areas

The City Council adjusts
rates to keep the income
fairly stable

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Star-Bulletin

Homeowners from Kapahulu to Hawaii Kai are the most likely to pay higher property taxes this year.

Those with single-family and apartment properties from Salt Lake to Nuuanu are most likely to pay less.

Overall, taxes rose for about 41 percent of Oahu properties, and dropped on about 52 percent of the parcels. Taxes for the remaining 7 percent stayed the same, according to city officials.

Property tax bills for Oahu's 252,811 properties went out July 20.

The City Council, following the recommendation from Mayor Jeremy Harris' administration, tinkered with the residential property tax rate, reducing it 1.5 percent.

The Council raised rates on several other categories, including apartments, to keep the city's revenue stream steady in the face of falling property values.

The administration says the changes are "revenue neutral."

Assessments, overall, fell 5 percent from a year ago. Assessments on 12 percent of all Oahu properties went up, 80 percent went down and 8 percent stayed the same.

Property taxes are the largest source of revenue for the city, accounting for a third of its total.

How much more or less a property owner is paying this year depends largely on the assessment, according to Roy Amemiya, city finance director.

With assessments down 5 percent, rates needed to be increased 5 percent, he said.

So it's likely that if an assessment went down by more than 5 percent, the landowner is seeing a decrease in taxes from last year's payment. If an assessment went down by less than 5 percent or went up, the landowner is likely seeing an increase in the tax bill.

The Finance Department estimates that the average property owner in the improved residential/single-family detached home category, the largest of the nine classifications, is paying $964 this year, down from $978 a year ago.

Some have suggested that taxes in older neighborhoods such as Kahala that have retained property values in recent years got hit hardest by the rate changes, while new neighborhoods with rapidly fluctuating values, such as Kapolei and other Leeward and Central Oahu areas, have benefited.

Amemiya acknowledged that may have been the case. "We have builders still building on the Leeward side," he said. A larger inventory may have contributed to lower values in those neighborhoods, he said.

Owners of improved residential and apartment property in tax zones 3 and 8 were more likely to see an increase in taxes, figures show.

In Zone 3, from Kapahulu to Hawaii Kai, about 56 percent of improved residential and apartment owners are paying a higher

blrb Among the properties that were assessed higher this year for the taxes are many apartment buildings.tax, while about 39 percent are paying less.

In Zone 8, along the Waianae Coast, about 47 percent of improved residential and apartment owners are paying more tax and about 30 percent are paying less.

Improved residential and apartment properties in zones 1 and 9 fared best under the new rates.

In Zone 1, from Salt Lake to Nuuanu, only 2 percent of landowners of improved residential and apartment properties saw increases in tax bills, while 77 percent saw drops.

In Zone 9 -- Halawa, Kapolei and Mililani -- 35 percent will be paying more, while 60 percent will be paying less.