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Tuesday, November 12, 2024
November 12, 2024 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 2:23 PM :: 985 Views

Hawaiian Electric Reports on First Year of Wildfire Safety Efforts

Dramatic Decrease in Tourism Spending in Hawaii Affecting Small Businesses

Bill 60: $10.1B Project as Big as Rail – will cost you $248.53 per month

SA: … A city-initiated measure calling for a more than 124% increase to sewer fees for Oahu’s average single-family residential customer over a 10-year period was recently top of mind for the Honolulu City Council.

(CLUE: 124% will be ADDED to your sewer bill.  The actual RATE of increase is multiplicative -- 224%.  Using 124% makes the increase seem smaller than it is.  Star-Adv is just doing its job serving local power brokers.) 

Bill 60, if adopted by the Council, would see all of the city’s rate-paying customers, including commercial users, have a total fee hike of 115% over the decade-long time frame, according to the city.

Starting July 1, the city’s plan to increase sewer fees will affect single-family residential customers as well as all other customer classes served by the city and county’s sewer system….

And by July 2034, the city predicts, the average monthly sewer bill will be $248.53 — a 124.1% increase from the current average sewer bill….

During virtual testimony, Donald Sakamoto of Kane­ohe said the proposed fee hikes will hit lower-income families hard. “Especially for people on a fixed income like me, it’s very hard,” he added.

Submitted as written testimony, Honolulu resident Lanning Lee said, “Already strapped families, especially those living paycheck to paycheck as I do, are being driven toward homelessness.”

“As a retiree, born and raised in Honolulu, I’m already at the financial edge. Right now, at 70, I’m looking at going back to work so I can stay in my home,” Lee wrote. “Please do what you can to defeat this bill and any others that raise our cost of living to the point of impoverishment.”…

City officials say the proposed sewer fee hikes are necessary to support ongoing wastewater operations and maintenance efforts, as well as a $10.1 billion capital improvement program for Oahu’s wastewater collection and treatment system that is planned through 2040.

The work includes a $2.5 billion upgrade to the Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant as required under a 2010 federal consent decree….

 the city seeks to have Bill 60 reviewed by the Council this month for possible approval by January — a timeline ahead of the Council’s annual budget process that begins around March for fiscal year 2026….

The Council held the first of three readings for Bill 60 on Nov. 7….

O’Keefe said the city also will convene two town hall meetings related to sewer fee increases, including one in Kapolei on Monday.

However, Council member Radiant Cordero objected to approving new fee hikes ahead of the city’s next budget cycle, adding that as the Council’s Budget Committee chair, she felt “strapped.”…

FLASHBACK: Sewer Fees to go up 224%

FLASHBACK: Sewer Pork as Big as Rail System

read … Council weighs in on city’s proposed sewer fee hike | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hawaii Projects Billion Dollar Budget Surpluses Despite Historic Tax Cut

CB: … Despite the extraordinary cost of the Maui wildfire disaster last year and the impact of the largest tax cut in state history this year, Gov. Josh Green’s administration anticipates billion-dollar budget surpluses for at least the next four years.

The administration also has projected that state general fund spending will somehow decrease in each of the next three years. Nothing like that has actually happened in at least the last decade….

(CLUE: Gutting ‘vacant positions’ means gutting ‘top-three’ opportunities for public employees.  That’s the problem.)

state Budget Director Luis Salaveria described the new financial plan as “very healthy.”

“The tax plan puts more money into the pockets of Hawaii families and will not require us to cut any government services,” Salaveria said in a written statement. “We have been able to invest in all of our key priority areas as a state and are expanding services for mental health, healthcare repayment program, homelessness, and affordable housing, in addition to passing historic tax legislation.”

“The Green Administration prioritizes the cost of living for Hawai’i families and this tax plan will increase disposable income and help with out migration, so that our residents can continue to afford to live here,” he said in the statement….

(Skip several paragraphs of whining.)

The administration is scheduled to present its proposed budget for the next two years to lawmakers by Dec. 16, which may help to clear up some of the confusion. But this does not appear to be shaping up as an easy budget year, and Green has said the new budget “could be tight.”

For one thing, there are substantial new costs ahead. For example, the administration’s new financial plan includes $800 million Green plans to commit over the next two fiscal years as the state’s contribution to a funding pool to settle claims related to the wildfire that destroyed much of Lahaina and killed at least 102 people.

There will also be costs associated with the ongoing contract negotiations with the public worker unions this year that are not included in the new financial plan.

Green has said he intends to eliminate budgeted vacant positions as a way to free up money for other uses. Salaveria has instructed state departments to submit plans to eliminate budgeted state government positions that have been vacant since July 1, 2020.

Those positions are “not functional” anyway, so services to the public will not be cut when funding is stripped from the vacant positions, Green has said.

But Young, the former state budget director, said eliminating vacant positions and their salaries is a complex undertaking that can affect services to the public.

State departments often use money budgeted for vacant positions to make emergency hires (as a grift for retirees), to pay overtime (to future retirees racking up their ‘top-three’) or to hire people under temporary employment contracts (as a grift for retirees), he said. Money from several vacancies is also sometimes also pooled to hire skilled workers at higher salary levels.

Green also said he plans to continue to pursue some version of his proposed fee on tourists to help finance Hawaii’s response to the impacts of climate change but said he does not need that fee to balance the budget….

read … Hawaii Projects Billion Dollar Budget Surpluses Despite Historic Tax Cut

Hawaii Young Professionals Seek Solutions on Cost-of-Living Issues

HB: … The Cost of Living Summit, one in a series of events planned by the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii’s Young Professionals Program, inspires young people to become active in making Hawaii more affordable….

read … Hawaii Young Professionals Seek Solutions on Cost-of-Living Issues

First Lahaina residents expected to return home for Christmas

KHON: … In six weeks, one Lahaina family said they’ll be ready to move back into their newly rebuilt home. They will be one of the first families moving back into the area, just in time for Christmas….

read … First Lahaina residents expected to return home for Christmas

Don’t delay on cutting permit delays

HTH: … Whether you are an entrepreneur trying to open a business or a homeowner interested in renovating your kitchen, you have probably waited two to six months — maybe even longer — for your permit to be approved….

read … Don’t delay on cutting permit delays

Cell tower bill showdown: Competing measures to be heard at Dec. 5 meeting

HTH: … Two competing bills changing Hawaii County’s permitting process for cell towers are set for a showdown next month.

In August, Kohala Councilwoman Cindy Evans introduced at a council committee meeting Bill 194, a measure that would require telecommunications companies to submit more documentation in order to receive county permits for building facilities on the island.

One month later, the county Planning Department introduced to the Windward Planning Commission a draft measure — which does not have a bill number — that would loosen regulations for telecom companies, allowing them to erect cell towers without a permit in certain zoning districts.

The former measure also came before the Commission on Nov. 1, where County Planner Tracie-Lee Camero laid out the similarities and differences in intent and execution between the two bills.

While both bills diverge significantly, they both ultimately would exempt telecommunications companies from needing permit approval by the county Planning Commissions. Bill 194 does place more requirements upon telecom companies, but, as long as the company meets the new requirements set by the measure and the county Planning Director issues plan approval for the project, it permits cell towers in any zoning district.

Both bills also require that any new cell tower be built at least 120% of the tower’s height away from any property line, and at least 1,000 feet from any residence or school. They also require that the telecom company submit a plan for the eventual shutdown and abandonment of the tower.

Where Bill 194 differs the most from the other bill is in the list of documents a company must submit in order to get plan approval. It includes a litany of 16 reports, including elevation and electrical drawings, fire safety requirements, a statement on the facility’s potential interference with county broadcasting, a soil condition analysis, a maintenance plan, a report on radio frequency exposure levels, and more.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Camero told the Commission that the Planning Department favors its own bill over Evans’, concluding that Bill 194 is inflexible and, in some places, redundant to existing requirements, while requiring more work by the Planning Department.

Camero also suggested that Bill 194 could conflict with federal law, which prohibits municipalities from setting stricter radio frequency standards than the Federal Communication Commission….

read … Cell tower bill showdown: Competing measures to be heard at Dec. 5 meeting

Honolulu City Council bill would exempt veterans from vehicle fees

SA: … A bill to exempt annual motor vehicle registration fees for U.S. military veterans who are 65 years and older and reside within the City and County of Honolulu has been introduced.

If approved, Bill 62 will provide an exemption from the registration fee for one vehicle per year owned by qualifying senior veterans.

The measure was introduced Friday by City Council members Andria Tupola and Augie Tulba, ahead of Monday’s Veterans Day holiday….

read … Honolulu City Council bill would exempt veterans from vehicle fees

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