HILO >> The Hawaii County Council approved a 25 percent property tax rate increase on Big Island homeowners yesterday, part of a package of property tax increases requested by Mayor Harry Kim to balance next year's county budget. Big Island council
OKs tax hikeThe property tax rate is going up
25 percent to an average of $477By Rod Thompson
rthompson@starbulletin.comKim wanted the increases to generate about $6 million to balance the $205.4 million budget.
The increases would bring the average homeowner tax bill to $477 from $363, Kim said. That is less than the average bill of $529 on Kauai and $665 on Maui, he has said.
The increases caused some grumbling but no taxpayers' revolt.
Council member Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd said people told her they would accept the increases, but they wanted to know what the money is going for.
Kim responded, "That's common sense. You ask somebody for money, you need to show how it's going to be spent. Unfortunately, a lot of it is catch-up. Unfortunately, the increase is just to maintain services."
Technically, the increases are only in the rates paid per $1,000 of value of a piece of property. The final bill is calculated by multiplying the rate times a property's value.
The Council raised the homeowner rate to $5.55 from $4.45 per $1,000. The rates on most other buildings went to $9.85 from $8.50 per $1,000. But rates on land dropped slightly to $9.85 from $10 per $1,000.
The Council also worked well into the evening to approve that $205.4 million budget, holding lengthy discussions but making only minor shifts of money.
County of Hawaii