State tax, city fee
increases take effect

Homeowners get a 30-day
break on new conveyance tax
rates, raised just last week

Some state taxes and city fees go up starting today.

They include the state conveyance tax, city sewer and sewer hookup fees, and the charge for production companies to film in city parks.

The conveyance tax doubles to 20 cents per $100 for transactions of $600,000 or more and triples to 30 cents for transactions of $1 million or more. The tax remains at the same rate on transactions of less than $600,000.

For sales of condominiums and single-family homes to non-owner occupants, the tax increases to 15 cents, 25 cents and 35 cents per $100, respectively.

However, the state is offering a 30-day grace period in which the old rate can still apply to unrecorded transfers that occurred before today if they are filed by the end of the month. That is because of the short time between Gov. Linda Lingle's approval of the increases last week and today's effective date, and because new tax forms reflecting the change were not available, said Bureau of Conveyances Administrator Carl Watanabe.

The new form became available online at the state Department of Taxation's Web site yesterday afternoon, and the bureau's Web site provides a link to it, Watanabe said.

"It was a mad scramble but we got it together," he said.

Portions of the increase are dedicated to securing preservation land and for state affordable-housing projects.

The city sewer fee goes up 25 percent. For the average single-family home, that means the monthly sewer bill increases to $41.31 from $33.05. The sewer fee will then increase 10 percent annually for the next five years and continue to increase by a lower rate for the next four years.

The fee to hook up to the city's sewer system increases to $4,780 from $4,641 and will continue to increase in the next five years.

The sewer fee increases are earmarked to pay for badly needed repairs to the sewer system.

Companies will have to pay at least double the $10 fee for filming in city parks. Large productions will have to pay 30 times more.

Also taking effect today are a new fee schedule and process for telecommunications companies to lease space on city property for their cellular antennas.