New members sworn in as City Council faces a year of financial and tax challenges ahead

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -The Honolulu City Council convened its 2023 session at noon Tuesday, with simultaneous reminders of the need to think generations ahead and an urgency to fix immediate financial and taxation challenges.

The ceremonies were traditional, beginning with an oli in Olelo Hawaii.

Members were surrounded by family, supporters, friends and staff who they introduced.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald swore in three new members:

• Matt Weyer from the North Shore;
• Val Aquino Okimoto from Pearl City/Waipahu;
• and Tyler Dos Santos-Tam from Makiki/Manoa.

Council Chair Tommy Waters was also sworn in; he’s beginning his second term on the council.

In his remarks, Waters reminded members their kuleana extends into future generations, especially when it comes to protecting the precious water supply.

He raised the placement of the Navy’s Red Hill fuel storage facility over Oahu’s main aquifer during World War II, imagining the thinking of the time.

“‘No worry, we can line it with three feet of cement and better yet we can put 20 inch stainless steel that buggah not going rust,” Waters said. “Fast forward 80 years, thinking what were they thinking? Same with us, when we think about where we are putting our next landfill or where we store fuel,” Water added.

Meanwhile, the council and mayor have only a few months to decide whether big increases in property values estimated by county assessors will lead directly to matching property tax increases.

The assessments are as much as 20%, which translates into a $700 tax increase on a million-dollar home.

It is now up to the administration to set rates or design exemptions, depending on what it takes to balance the city budget which has its own challenges.

Council Budget Chair Calvin Say is cautious about promising relief, especially facing big budget challenges ― including paying for salary and benefits for public workers.

“We are having a difficult time and I think we are we are doing our best to come up with a balanced budget first and foremost and to see if there is any excess funds that we could use as giving back to the general public as relief,” Say said.

Waters seemed equally concerned and cautious, pointing out that the city relies primarily on property taxes without many other sources of significant revenue.

“We have a shortage of police officers. We have a shortage of workers in the city ― 3,000 workers,” Waters said. “We have to make sure we can pay a living wage so they can stay and live in Hawaii.”

Say said he would look first to expanding the exemption for owner occupants, which waives $140,000 of the assessed value for those who own and live at home. Waters is proposing a similar $120,000 exemption for owners who rent out homes for long-terms and providing a tax cap of 3% of income for owners making less than $80,000 a year.

Mayor Rick Blangiardi said he was not an expert on taxes, but promised to support relief, especially for owner-occupants and owners on fixed incomes, who could lost their homes to taxes.

“We are going to look at what we can do with tax credits we are going to look at what we can do with tax exemptions,” Blangiardi said. “Those assessments that went out right now are not the tax bills we are going to try to intercede we understand we understand the impact of this.”

Leeward Oahu Council member Andria Tupola wants the city to address the unpredictability of a tax system tied to the ups and downs of Honolulu real estate values.

She said some counties have set a schedule of regular increases that smooth out the spikes. “I think we all understand that the city has to operate,” Tupola said. “But this can’t be at the expense of the residents and with no predictability.”

Say and Waters both expressed hope that a better relationship with the administration of new Gov. Josh Green and the state Legislature would lead to opportunities to share revenues the state collects from sources like traffic fines and the conveyance tax to make the county less dependent on property taxes.

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