[ MAUI COUNTY ]

Councilman’s aide
and businessman in
tight Council race

» Kauai voters to decide tax amendment
» Council race focus is on seventh place

WAILUKU >> A Maui businessman and a legislative aide appear to be running a close race for the South Maui seat on the Maui County Council, where there is no incumbent.

Councilman Wayne Nishiki's aide Michelle Anderson led by less than 3 percent of the vote over Ron Vaught, former general manager of radio station KMVI, in the primary election.

Vaught and Anderson had less than 30 percent of the vote, and the outcome could change depending on endorsements by several South Maui candidates who lost in the primary and the more than 13 percent of voters who cast blank votes.

Anderson has the endorsement of Nishiki, who is vacating his South Maui seat because of a County Charter rule limiting Council members from serving on the Council for more than five consecutive terms.

Nishiki, known as a political gadfly critical of coastal developments that block access to the public shoreline, has been a major vote-getter in Maui County.

Vaught, a publisher of visitor magazines, said he has received a number of endorsements from business and labor groups, including the International Longshore and Warehouse Union.

Vaught said he has served in positions of leadership in a number of organizations, such as director of the Maui County Fair and president of Kihei Elementary School's Parent Teacher Association.

The Council race in West Maui is a rematch between incumbent Jo Anne Johnson and former Councilman Dennis Y. Nakamura.

Nakamura, who lost to Johnson by 125 votes in 2000, finished behind Johnson by a 2,490-vote margin in the primary, but voter turnout was a low 26.1 percent, making projections of the outcome difficult for the general election.

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[ KAUAI COUNTY ]

Voters can decide on
property tax amendment

» Council race focus is on seventh place

LIHUE >> Kauai voters will be casting their votes on the first initiative measure to make the ballot in 20 years.

The proposed amendment to the County Charter would roll property taxes on owner-occupied homes back to 1999 levels and allow an increase of only 2 percent annually.

Homes bought after 1999 would be taxed at the value and rate set for the year of purchase and then the 2 percent limit would be applied in future years.

Termed a "wake-up call to the county," the measure is backed by a group of activists calling itself Ohana Kauai, which points out county spending and property tax collections both have increased 50 percent over the six years since Kauai's real estate boom began.

Critics include the current county administration and several Council members including former Mayor JoAnn Yukimura.

Yukimura points out the re-valuation of homes whenever they are sold in the future means two identical homes would be paying very different tax bills while receiving the same county services. The new buyer would pay many times more than the neighboring longtime residents.

The result would be that young couples a decade or two from now would be unfairly paying a heavy tax on their first homes, Yukimura said.

Opponents also claim the amendment will shift the future tax burden from owner-occupied homes to businesses, which will simply raise prices to pay for the higher taxes. Renters are not protected by the amendment and will see their monthly payments increase, opponents say.

Proposed amendment to Kauai Charter "Shall the Kaua'i County Charter be amended by the addition of a new Article XXXI to read: ARTICLE XXXI. RESIDENT PROPERTY TAXES. Section 31.01. Resident Property Taxes. It is the policy of the County that resident taxpayers should be equitably protected when there are significantly rising real estate values and government costs. Therefore, for County residents who have owned and occupied their place of residence beginning in or before the fiscal year 1998-1999, then for the next fiscal year after the adoption of this section real property taxes with respect to such residence shall not exceed the amount of such tax assessed for the 1998-1999 fiscal year. For County residents acquiring their place of residence after the fiscal year 1998-1999 their real property taxes with respect to such residence for the next fiscal year after the adoption of this section shall not exceed the amount of tax assessed for the fiscal year the ownership and residence commences. For all such taxpayers in no fiscal year after the year in which the tax was restored to the amount in 1998-1999 or the year of acquisition, whichever is applicable, shall the percentage increase in real property tax with respect to such residence exceed the lesser of the percentage rate applicable at the commencement of such fiscal year for cost of living adjustments in retirement benefits by the Social Security Administration, or two percent (2%). Promptly following its adoption the County shall notify in writing all owners of residential property in its property tax records of the principal terms of this section. The County shall adopt such ordinances, laws, rules and regulations as are necessary to carry out and are consistent with the purpose of the foregoing policy and the terms of this section. This information is available in alternate formats. If you require special assistance (i.e., large print, taped materials, etc.), call the Office of Elections at 808-453-VOTE (8683).

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County Council race focus
is on seventh place

LIHUE >> On election night in the Kauai County Council race, all eyes will be on who finishes seventh rather than first.

Fourteen candidates are seeking seven at-large seats. Seven of the 14 are incumbents.

In the primary, the top six positions were taken by incumbents.

But challenger Shaylene C. Iseri-Carvalho took the seventh position, bumping veteran incumbent Joe Munechika down to eighth place. The difference between them was only 28 votes.

Former Mayor JoAnn Yukimura, who made her political comeback two years ago, was the runaway top vote-getter in the primary.

Council Chairman Kaipo Asing -- the dean of the Council with 11 terms behind him -- finished second. Asing maintained his unique tradition of spending less than $100 on his campaign and always finishing at the top or very near the top of the pack.

Despite complaints from activists that the Council has not introduced a single piece of major legislation in the last two years, the challengers have shown no inclination to criticize the incumbents.