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Right after the big raises were announced ... have to pay for that somehow.
http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2018...d-balance/
employees' salaries and benefits now account for 62.5 percent of the $491 million county budget ... Payments on bond issues from prior years account for 12.5 percent.
Salaries + benefits + debt service = 75% of the budget.
Property taxes account for about 74.5 percent of this year's general fund revenues
Property taxes were just increased, right?
The GET can be used only for roads and mass transit
I thought we just raised the fuel tax to "pay for roads"?
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Those big raises for administrators got the headlines, but it was the across the board "collective bargaining" raises for rank and file county workers that actually busted the budget. Mind you, neither type of raise was merit based, i.e. somehow linked to efficiency or good job performance. State senator Lorraine Inouye was a total piece of work when she said in the article, "“They ask us to help them and my suggestion is to go ahead and raise taxes.” Of course she doesn't mention that this was after she and the legislature took a significant portion of the Transient Accommodation Tax away from the counties and gave it to the state. Also, Harry Kim is not doing his job of managing the county finances if he can't find a way out of this without raising the GET. Nowhere in the article does it mention the obvious solution of a top to bottom review of county positions with an eye to eliminating some of them. We got by relatively well with Furlough Fridays a few years ago, but none of the politicians wants to lose the union vote by doing something similar now. And yet we keep electing these bozos.
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And yet we keep electing these bozos.
I suggest that our votes aren't what gets these bozos elected.
she and the legislature took a significant portion of the Transient Accommodation Tax away
From the article: TAT is about $450M, County gets $19.2M, which is about 4%.
I find it difficult to believe that only 4% of tourists are staying on the Big Island.
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Harry Kim and Lorraine Rodero Inouye are useless time servers,
specialists in the "go along to get along" school of politics.
What I can't help remembering about Lorraine Inouye is her performance at
a Mayoral candidate debate in 2008 at the Keaa'au HS, when she overan
her speaking time and ignored attempts to stop and adhere to the agreed procedure.
Same thing with this vote in the Legislature. Careless and tone deaf.[
!]
Harry should have just stayed retired, we would probably done better with someone other than Harry as Mayor.[8]
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Dear Mayor Kim,
THERE ARE TOO MANY COUNTY EMPLOYEES!
Regards,
Squeezed Taxpayer
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As we understand this new GET increase - The State of Hawaii legislature granted each county last year the option of raising the GET up to ONE percent as needed .It is up to the current county council to approve or disapprove this ONE percent increase in the GET for Hawaii the county.
The bond debt load our last mayor (BK ) took out on all of us is just a small portion of what is needed for running the County of Hawaii.
Oahu has been paying a half percent more in GET to help pay for the (10 billion over budget )fail rail project and will be doing so for the next 99+ years.
This is our perspective on the subject .
Mrs.Mimosa
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State of Hawaii legislature granted each county last year the option of raising the GET
How generous of them.
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At what point does this become graft? I swear they are testing how far they can push us, announcing a budget shortfall, then raises, then taxes, then more raises, and now more taxes.
Meanwhile, I haven't heard a thing out of Jen Ruggles.
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At what point does this become graft?
2011 or 2012, I wasn't paying close attention.
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announcing a budget shortfall, then raises, then taxes, then more raises...
Perhaps a Taxpayer Review & Recommendation Board should be organized, and submit their findings to the County Council. Unlike county projects, the cost of studies and consultants will be minimal because their findings will probably always be the same:
No to new taxes
"This is an island surrounded by water, big water, ocean water.” - President Donald J. Trump
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
