Hawaiian Electric to Dump 54M Shares on Stock Market
Rule Change will put 14,000 more families on food stamps
Vacant Homes Tax Is Not Good Public Policy
CB: … Bill 46 is scheduled for a hearing Wednesday before the Honolulu City Council housing committee….
The bill presumes all homes are empty unless the property owner applies for one of up to 15 exemptions (depending on the version of the bill), e.g., the home is occupied by the owner or renter for at least six months during the year. In order to not be assessed the empty homes tax, a declaration for exemption must be filed with the city every year, and they must approve it. The city may require driver’s licenses, vehicle registration, utility and/or bank records for homeowner occupancy and lease agreements and proof of income and general excise taxes paid for rental income as proof of tenant occupancy. Other documents may be required as well.
Other exemptions include absence of the owner due to medical care, home renovation, deployment of the owner, lack of fitness for living in, among others. Each of these exemptions also requires certain documentation.
Perhaps one of the biggest problems with this proposed tax is the requirement that every owner provide documentation of exemption or face the outrageous tax. (The tax would be 3% of the assessed value of the property, except that the first year it would be 1% and second year 2%. For a home with an assessed value of $500,000, that would be $15,000 after the second year. A home assessed at $1 million would be taxed at a whopping $30,000.)
When the Residential A classification first went into effect, “many” homeowners were faced with a 71% increase in real property taxes, because they were unaware of the new classification and did not have a homeowner’s exemption. …
read … A Vacant Homes Tax Is Not Good Public Policy
City Council still trying to figure out how to waste COVID money
SA: … A city-initiated resolution that urges the Honolulu City Council to reprogram about $5 million in federal COVID- 19 pandemic funds for “revenue replacement” is under review this week.
The Council’s Budget Committee today is expected to scrutinize Resolution 235, which seeks to put reprogrammed American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, State and Local Fiscal Recovery funds toward the city’s other post- employment benefit, or OPEB, activity.
In a Sept. 17 letter to Council Chair Tommy Waters, city Managing Director Mike Formby wrote on behalf of the city that roughly $5 million was “in support of revenue replacement to further advance payments to the city’s (OPEB) activity.” …
SA: City eyes $5M in federal COVID-19 money for possible worker hazard pay
KHON: $5M of COVID money re-programmed as hazard pay (khon2.com)
read … City Council to review $5M toward potential hazard pay
Maui Water Wars: Eco-Lawyers aim to eliminate all agriculture this week
CB: … The battle over Maui’s water supply is taking center stage this week as two different government regulators consider a long-term lease for a significant amount of the island’s water.
The East Maui Water Authority and the state Board of Land and Natural Resources are expected to take up a proposed 30-year water license for up to 85 million gallons per day from the Koolau Forest Reserve, located in East Maui.
The voter-created water authority will discuss the matter on Wednesday while BLNR is scheduled to take it up as an agenda item on Friday.
Critics of the proposed deal are unhappy that the long-term lease seems to be intended for Alexander & Baldwin, Mahi Pono and East Maui Irrigation, all major private companies. Mahi Pono is owned by a Canadian pension fund. EMI is 50% owned by Alexander & Baldwin and 50% by Mahi Pono.
Giving these companies so much water undercuts the mission of the East Maui Water Authority, in the view of people like David Kimo Frankel, a land-use attorney who frequently represents clients in environmental and Hawaiian circles….
read … Maui's Contentious Water Saga Is Bubbling Up This Week - Honolulu Civil Beat
$20 million verdict in Ewa marina case is restored on appeal
HNN: … A huge jury verdict has been restored over scuttled plans for a marina in Ewa Beach.
An appeals court says the developer must pay well over $20 million to homeowners who said they were deceived.
The legal fight over Haseko’s decision to replace plans for a marina resort with a recreational lagoon has been ongoing for 13 years.
Now, the Intermediate Court of Appeals says a judge was wrong to throw out the jury’s decision made nine years ago.
Attorneys Terry Revere and Michael Green won the verdict in 2015 and said the jury was outraged by Haseko’s actions.
“It was all a lie,” Green said. “It was all built up to get as much money out of these homeowners as they could. And they did, and now they’ve got to repay it.”
It was a legal fight that seemed all but forgotten as Haseko finished the lagoons at Wai Kai and developed amenities, including a wave pool, high-end dining, and a golf country club.
But the appeals court restored the jury’s finding that 1,800 original buyers were deceived and were owed money for lost home values and for millions they paid Haseko for a marina….
SA: Ewa community developer Haseko facing $27M judgement again after appeal
read … $20 million verdict in Ewa marina case is restored on appeal
Plans for drug addiction center scrapped after partner accused of forgery
HNN: … Rooney was accused of using the money not for the addiction center but for “the purchase of motor vehicles, luxury housing, luxury vacations, and services such as private chefs and child-care services” instead of the center….
read … Plans for drug addiction center scrapped after partner accused of forgery
Pearl City unattended rifle case hits Prosecutor's Office
KHON: … It’s been 15 months since a man was fatally shot and killed by Honolulu Police after he grabbed a police officer’s unattended rifle during a standoff in Pearl City.
Police officials said the unattended rifle case is now part of a criminal investigation which was forwarded to the Prosecutor’s Office in August….
read ... Pearl City unattended rifle case hits Prosecutor's Office
Developer wins Arbitration in Navy Water Lawsuit
CN: HONOLULU — A housing community partially won its motion to compel arbitration after it was sued in Hawaii federal court for allegedly violating its contractual duty to provide clean water to tenants after fuel leaks at a nearby Navy storage facility contaminated the water system. The Federal Arbitration Act does apply because the lease contains written intent to arbitrate such issues, and the clause is not unconscionable because it is clearly distinguished and is not some unfair surprise. Residents’ class claims are stayed pending arbitration, not dismissed.
Read the ruling here.
read … Developer wins Arbitration in Navy Water Lawsuit
1,800 Local 5 workers begin open-ended strike at Hilton Hawaiian Village
SA: … More than 1,800 unionized hotel workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 5 went on an open-ended strike today at 5 a.m. at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, the state’s largest hotel….
read … 1,800 Local 5 workers begin open-ended strike at Hilton Hawaiian Village
Probe Massachusetts welfare money spent in Hawaii
BH: … Mass. EBT expenditures from Hawaii to Alaska. The Herald’s two-part probe of welfare money leaving the state raises so many red flags that an investigation seems warranted. In fact, overdue….
read … Editorial: Probe welfare money spent in Hawaii
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