Maui faces increases
in various tax ratesThe council approves a budget that would
raise trash fees and fuel and property taxes
WAILUKU >> Gasoline and diesel fuel taxes will be going up by 38 percent, apartment property tax rates by 18.9 percent, and trash collection fees by 100 percent under a fiscal 2004 budget passed by the Maui County Council yesterday.
Paul Hanada, president of Ilima Shell and Aloha Shell Service in Kahului, said he opposed the diesel and gasoline tax increase to 18 cents from 13 cents a gallon.
"The people of Maui, I don't think they can afford it," Hanada testified at the Council meeting.
The $318.8 million Council budget, including $15.1 million in capital improvement projects, goes to Mayor Alan Arakawa for his review.
Hanada said people affected the most by the gasoline increase will be residents who live Upcountry and work in west Maui.
Hanada, who charges $2.25 a gallon for self-serve, regular gasoline, said he pays a high wholesale price for his fuel, about 20 cents more than dealers on Oahu.
Councilman Joseph Pontanilla said the fuel tax increase was necessary to meet the creation of a county Department of Transportation, as mandated by voters in a 2002 County Charter amendment.
"This was a choice that we as a committee made," Pontanilla said.
Councilman Wayne Nishiki, who cast the lone dissenting vote in the nine-member Council, said the rise in property tax rates for the apartment tax rate would affect an estimated 20,000 residents and he did not feel the increase was necessary.
The proposed $318.8 million budget calls for a property tax rate increase for apartments and improved residential and unimproved residential properties to $5.86 from $4.93 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. For homeowners who occupy their own homes, the property tax rate would decrease to $3.55 from $3.63 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
Nishiki said he agreed with Arakawa's opposition against increasing the property tax rates and cutting spending in county departments.
The Council voted in favor of increasing trash collection to $12 a month from $6 after county public works officials noted that the actual cost of collecting trash was more than $20 a month.
The Council also added an increase in the motor vehicle registration fee to $14.50 from $9.50.
The Council passed an Arakawa proposal to increase the motor vehicle beautification fund fee to $5 from $2 and residential sewer rates on an average of $3 a month.
Other fee changes proposed by Arakawa and approved by the Council include the creation of a three-tiered rate for commercial refuse and abandoning the $41-per-truck commercial refuse fee.
Under the proposed new rate, the county would charge $30.50 for trucks weighing less than a ton, $41 for trucks weighing between 1 and 5 tons, and $82 for 5 tons or more.
Capital improvement projects include $350,000 for the purchase of the Wailuku swimming pool and $4.05 million for Front Street parking improvements and the expansion of a park at Ukumehame.
County of Maui
