03-15-2006, 05:10 PM
Aloha, Mella. Others probably know the history of the so-called Hilo-Kona split better than I do, but here goes. In early territorial days (circa 1900?) the Big Island was two separate counties due to the lack of good roads and resultant difficulty of communication and travel between sides. At some point this problem improved, and the island became one county. Subsequently Kona became the location for posh resorts and expensive homes and the high property tax revenues that go along with all that. For a number of years, there have been complaints from Kona that they pay for far more than they get in the way of county services. I have not seen any hard statistics to back up this contention, but it could easily be so. Kona does have severe traffic problems in certain areas that need to be addressed. The lack of county services in Puna makes for an ironic parallel. You have supposedly weathly folks in Kona complaining about Hilo getting the lions share, and not-so-wealthy folks in Puna feeling the same way. It would be interesting to see a breakdown by district of county tax revenues versus expenditures.