Tax meeting took place
without proper noticeA new meeting will be set once
the council can be assured of a quorum
The state Council on Revenues will have to meet again because last week's meeting was held without proper notice, according to state Tax Director Kurt Kawafuchi.
Although the meeting time and date had been posted on the council's state Web site, notice of the meeting was not sent to the Lieutenant Governor's Office, as required by law, Kawafuchi said.
The new meeting will be held next week, as soon as the seven-person council can be assured of a quorum, according to Kawafuchi.
A new meeting might also mean a change in tax revenue projections because the council will have more information regarding August tax collections, which are expected to show another modest gain, according to the tax director.
At last week's meeting, the council predicted the state would have an extra $35.8 million to spend. Although that is a fraction of the state's $3.1 billion annual budget, the increase was enough to set off calls from the Legislature's Democratic leaders for Gov. Linda Lingle to increase state spending.
The meeting last week was ruled invalid after discussions between the Tax Department and the Lieutenant Governor's Office. The Lieutenant Governor's Office posted a note yesterday on its statewide calendar Web site, www.ehawaiigov.org/calendar, saying that the meeting by the council had been canceled because the body "did not file this hearing notice at least six calendar days before the date of the meeting."
The action came after the Honolulu Star-Bulletin asked the state administration why the Council of Revenues meetings were not publicly posted, as required by state law.
