lava economy

[MarkD]

Good link, Tom. Yes, that visitor's comments were interesting. A sanctioned lava-viewing site would certainly bring more such responses....

[TomK]

Our county council members have much more important things to do, like a self-congratulating and expensive conference on Oahu.

http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2018...back-home/

"Council members justified the cost — $400 for the conference registration, $329 a night for the hotel, plus airfare — as necessary to touch base with state and county colleagues, attend sessions on important issues and make crucial contacts to help push Hawaii County’s legislative agenda."

[TomK]

PS. I would be interested to know how the accommodation rate is being paid. Government rates for lodging in Honolulu max out at $177 per day. Total per diem, including that lodging rate, is $315. That includes $177 lodging, meals and incidentals. You can always spend more than that, but the excess becomes taxable.

[KeaauRich]

I think criticism of the Council members' trip to Oahu is pretty petty. It wasn't a weeks-long junket to New York or Paris, it was a quick trip to our state capital, where Council members had the opportunity to meet, interact and lobby their County counterparts and state officials. These types of sessions and networking opportunities build relationships that are especially invaluable in times like these when we can use all the resources, education and experience-based ideas we can get. Even if each participant spent $1500 (which would be on the high side) the total expense of $9,000 could easily be recouped in many tangible ways. For example Maui recently donated thousands of dollars worth of outmoded (for them) but valuable (to us) computer equipment, and in the past "junkets" like these have enabled our County staff to learn about and take advantage of grant opportunities worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. And Tom, as for the "how is the accommodation rate being paid" question, I suspect there is a provision in the County vouchering procedures to allow expenditures for conferences that might exceed the normal government overnight lodging rate. It would take into consideration that this "conference room rate" includes meals and subsidize the conference room facilities. At least that's the way it worked when I worked for a Fortune 10 company that squeezed each travel dollar so tight that George Washington screamed. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- people are complaining about this expense when we're still paying to have County marching bands on both sides of the Island???

[TomK]

I'm in 100% disagreement, but it's late tonight and don't have the energy to say much more other than having our county council attend this conference at this time is insulting. Spending money on lodgings way more expensive than government rates needs explaining and the specific benefits Hawaii island residents receive from this need to be spelled out directly.

[KeaauRich]

Tom, we can agree to disagree, but to complain about a $9,000 total conference expenditure when we're spending just shy of $300,000 for East and West county bands seems a bit "penny wise, pound foolish" to me.

[TomK]

It's not the amount of money, it's whether the council spent the money lawfully. That's what's bugging me, especially given the current situation in Puna.

[randomq]

Can't ignore the "optics". We already have three (maybe four) tax increases, huge council raises, a multi-million dollar budget shortfall, and now our council members are leaving the island in the middle of a crisis and staying in expensive hotels while evacuees sleep in tents. It didn't occur to them that this might look bad, whether or not it is actually productive?

Sorry, I think we've all hijacked this thread.

[kalakoa]

I think we've all hijacked this thread

For the better.

Maui recently donated thousands of dollars worth of outmoded (for them) but valuable (to us) computer equipment

Equipment which allows us to pay more to Telcom for an MPLS mesh of dubious benefit -- typical failure to quantify TCO before deployment.

Back to OP: how much of the County government do we have to replace before we have progressive growth of the base instead of higher taxes? The way things are currently being run, we will all need County jobs just to keep up with the tax increases.

[punaticbychoice]

kalakoa @ 06:57:15 06/25/2018-
My sentiments exactly.
Progressive growth would undermine the local elite power and control.
That's why they are wedded to outside based income. No change in elite
composition.
As I think you have said, County Government is the "New Plantation".
The economy is tourism, Federal monies,and retirees. Period.