Maui landowners
blame rich neighbors
They say purchases by millionaires
drive up land values and taxes
WAILUKU >> Purchases by millionaires such as TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey are helping to fuel a continuing rise in property values and taxes on Maui, some homeowners say.
"Maui has indeed become the plaything of millionaires," said William Tavares, chairman of the citizen tax relief group Comet -- Committee for More Equitable Taxation.
While homeowner property values have increased 70 percent countywide in the last 10 years, several neighborhoods have witnessed more than a 100 percent rise in taxes in the last five years, forcing some to sell their properties, critics say.
Maui County Real Property Tax administrator Lance Okumura noted that properties along the coastline, including Makena and Paia, are among those that have seen assessments increase more than 100 percent in the last five years.
In Maui County, homeowner property assessments are based on comparable sales, assessing a residence's value at about the same price level as similar properties sold in the neighborhood.
Patsy Kaina said her family and relatives in rural Hana have had to sell close to 100 acres in the last 25 years to pay property tax payments.
Kaina, 47, who lives in the Haou area of Hana, said the land, passed down through generations as far back as King Kamehameha III in the mid-1800s, is close to properties that have been bought by millionaires, pushing up tax assessments.
Kaina said she paid about $600 a year in the 1980s for four acres of agricultural land.
She said the 4-acre area was re-zoned to rural, a higher classification, despite her objection, and her family is now paying $6,000 a year.
"The old-timers who live here for many years, we're the ones who are suffering," Kaina said.
Kaina said Winfrey bought more than 100 acres five miles east of her property, increasing the values of properties in the area, and another person bought 10 acres for $1.8 million across from her family's land.
Dorothy Williams, president of the Maui Meadows Homeowners Association, said the assessments of property owners in her South Maui region have nearly doubled in the last five years.
Williams, who retired from McDonnell-Douglas about 25 years ago, said taxes on the half-acre property have gone up 52 percent in the last two years and that she is paying $1,900 this year.
"We're longtime residents, and we're not going to turn around and sell it. We just want our taxes to be equitable," she said. "They should put a cap on the assessments because somebody's got to protect us from this inflation and real estate assessments."
State Sen. J. Kalani English, who has ancestral property in the Hana District, said part of the reason that property taxes have gone "through the roof" stems from a system that determines land values based on the "highest and best use."
English, a former County Council member, said he believes Maui should look at other U.S. counties that are facing similar problems, such as Marin County in Northern California.
He said in Marin, the land is assessed at the value when a person buys it instead of increasing with comparable sales of nearby properties.
Tavares, who retired in 1978 as a school principal, said some assessments in the Kuau area have increased by 25 to 30 percent in a year.
Tavares said the assessment of his son's neighboring 17,000-square-foot property recently increased by 16.5 percent in one year to $1.34 million.
Tavares said his family has lived in Kuau since 1910, when his father bought the property.
"We don't want to sell. We want to live here the rest of our lives," he said. "Why should that be the only choice in a democracy?"
Tavares said the county needs to place an annual 4 percent cap on the assessment of homeowner properties.
County tax officials note that residents also may use the circuit-breaker credit that limits property taxes to no more than 3 percent of a qualified homeowner's adjusted gross income.
County Councilman Riki Hokama, chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, said the Council also passed tax relief ordinances this year that raised the homeowner exemption on taxes.
The exemption was increased by $30,000, to $110,000 for homeowners up to age 69 and to $130,000 for homeowners 70 years and older.
Hokama said he was willing to look at placing a percentage cap on assessments but expects the Council will not be able to review property tax issues until the fall.
Kaina said she has talked with county tax officials, and this is the first time she has heard about the circuit-breaker credit.
Tax officials have scheduled 15 community meetings to inform homeowners about the credit.
She said 16 people, including five of her six children and their families, live with her and her husband, Kaleo.
Kaina said she wants to separate the property into rural lots so that her children can have a home for themselves, but she cannot afford the cost of subdividing the land -- at least $80,000.
She said she knows many native Hawaiians are facing similar problems. "We're rich in lands, but because of the land taxes, we become the poorest ... and it's sad," she said. "We're not developing. We don't have mansion on our property. We just want to live."
