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+--- Thread: Hooray! The new gas tax is here! (/showthread.php?tid=18521)
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Hooray! The new gas tax is here! - kalakoa - 06-24-2017
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/news/local-news/county-pumps-fuel-tax-first-year-phased-hike-starts-62-cents-gallon
I'm sure all the extra money will give us PMAR!
Deputy Finance Director Deanna Sako said the county will be able to share with the council more details on when and where the additional money will be used once it knows when the tax increase will go into effect.
She said that's dependent on the state Department of Transportation implementing them at the pump, which would either be in October or January. Afterward, a budget amendment would be required.
Oh, but they haven't decided yet. And we have to wait around for State, in the usual "oh, please, State, can we govern ourselves?" fashion.
RE: Hooray! The new gas tax is here! - leilanidude - 06-25-2017
snipped from the article:
"The 7-2 vote allows the county to boost its fuel tax — currently the lowest in the state at 8.8 cents per gallon — incrementally to 23 cents. The phased approach will bring the Big Island on par with Maui County, which has the highest fuel tax in Hawaii, in the 2019-20 fiscal year."
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It almost seems like these elected officials believe it is some sort of competition to see who can have either the most taxes, or to be able to keep up with, the other counties. [
!]
RE: Hooray! The new gas tax is here! - PaulW - 06-25-2017
"The funds are allocated based on miles of road in each district. "
I wonder if they count the Puna subdivision roads?
RE: Hooray! The new gas tax is here! - kalakoa - 06-25-2017
if they count the Puna subdivision roads?
No; never forget those roads are "private" (if you want maintenance) but "open to the public" (if HPD wants to write tickets).
RE: Hooray! The new gas tax is here! - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 06-25-2017
those roads are "private" (if you want maintenance) but "open to the public"
It's almost as if the county set about cobbling together a Frankenstein, but they animated it before they could find a brain.
She had never been to Puna before. "Are there lots of people like you?" she asked, with a hopeful expression. (Paraphrased & plagiarized from Elif Batuman)
RE: Hooray! The new gas tax is here! - Chunkster - 06-25-2017
HOTPE, they still haven't "found a brain." It is quite telling that apparently no efforts toward efficiency or cost cutting were enacted before the tax increase was passed. (They might start with cleaning up a transit agency partly funded by fuel tax which is so disorganized that it can't keep buses running despite a healthy budget.) Eileen Ohara brags in the article that she will demand accountability and equity for Puna in the future, but she voted for the increase without any requirement of such measures whatsoever. And yet we (or actually the county employees) keep electing these people.
Edited to add: Oh, and I forgot to mention that this tax increase will fall heaviest on Puna's working poor, most of whom commute to Hilo if they are lucky enough to have jobs.
RE: Hooray! The new gas tax is here! - kalakoa - 06-25-2017
a transit agency partly funded by fuel tax which is so disorganized that it can't keep buses running
Obviously it's because they don't have a new $12M baseyard. Which is behind schedule for some reason. (Ironically, the neighbors didn't complain about it being built "near their house".)
Puna's working poor, most of whom commute to Hilo
Many of them commute to Kona. On the bus.
almost as if the county set about cobbling together a Frankenstein
Lovely image, but gives County too much credit, they're not smart enough to build something.
RE: Hooray! The new gas tax is here! - terracore - 06-25-2017
"if they are lucky enough to have jobs"
Hawaii has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. Hawaii county is nearly a full percentage point below the national average.
I'm not saying they are great paying jobs but there is work for anybody who wants it.
RE: Hooray! The new gas tax is here! - leilanidude - 06-25-2017
terracore - the unemployment rate doesn't count those who the government has decided, are "no longer seeking employment", meaning they have given up. I tend to believe Puna has a LOT of those types of people, who just do a little cash work to get by.
RE: Hooray! The new gas tax is here! - randomq - 06-25-2017
Why is it progress is so slow, but raising taxes so quick?