TEARS OF GRATITUDE

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Small Business Hawaii honored Bill and Joyce Edwards, owners of The Systemcenter Inc., as its Small Business Persons of the Year at its 26th annual conference yesterday at the Ala Moana Hotel. The Edwards were emotional as they thanked their children for helping them in the business.

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'Weekend effect' drops isle tax revenues 7.9%

Taxes going into the state general fund in December totaled $213.2 million, a decline of 7.9 percent from the tax take of $231.5 million in the previous December.

General excise and use taxes, the biggest income item in the general fund, increased despite the setback to the economy that followed the Sept. 11 hijacking terrorist attacks, but state officials said that was because of the "weekend effect" in which the last day of 2000 was a Sunday, pushing tax payments into January.

The general excise and use tax total for December 2001 was $118.5 million, up 10 percent from $107.7 million in December 2000. However, total general fund income was brought down by a $26 million increase in tax refunds paid out in December. Corporate and individual income tax refunds totaled $30.8 million last month, up 516 percent from $5 million in December 2000.

For the first half of the June 30 fiscal year, the general fund tax take was $1.53 billion, up just 0.9 percent from a year-earlier $1.51 billion.

Teamsters' Hoffa to speak at isle business meeting

International Brotherhood of Teamsters representatives from 13 western states will hold their annual business meeting in Honolulu Feb. 18 to 22.

Between 400 and 600 representatives are expected to attend the event.

The meetings will include reports from each Teamster region. In addition, several politicians from Hawaii and the mainland will address the group. Teamster General President James Hoffa and Teamsters General Secretary- Treasurer Thomas Keegel will be keynote speakers.

Hawaii Teamsters President Mel Kahele will the deliver the opening session's welcome and address.

The meetings will be headquartered at the Hyatt Regency Hotel-Waikiki.

Castle & Cooke to form residential mortgage firm

Castle & Cooke Inc. has taken a new step in its Hawaii real estate business by setting up its own residential mortgage company. The change means that Castle & Cooke, developer of Mililani and newer projects at Kunia on Oahu, will be able to provide financing directly to buyers of its homes.

Leading the new Castle & Cooke Mortgage Inc., which will open next month, is Rusty Rasmussen, a former vice president of First Hawaiian Bank, who has more than 20 years of mortgage lending experience. The company said that while it can broker loans for any home buyers in Hawaii, it will initially concentrate on buyers of new homes in Mililani and people interested in refinancing their homes or purchasing previously owned homes in central Oahu.

Hawaiian Bitumuls now Grace Pacific Precast

Hawaiian Bitumuls Paving & Precast Inc., a subsidiary of Grace Pacific Corp., was renamed as Grace Pacific Precast Inc. effective Jan. 1.

Grace Pacific Corp. a local employee-owned company with 300 workers, acquired Hawaiian Bitumuls in 2001 and merged the paving operations with Grace Pacific Corp. and the remaining precast operations as Grace Pacific Precast.