Posts: 2,898
Threads: 488
Joined: Mar 2006
Mayor Billy Kenoi proposed Thursday a 10% across the board property tax increase and an increase to "The Bus" that would make it a $2.00 fare for riders...$1.00 for seniors, students and handicapped. Also higher vehicle registration fees! I knew the bus fee was going up so that its no longer "free" for anyone. But I'm surprised that vehicle registration is going up again.
http://hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections...rcent.html
Posts: 297
Threads: 12
Joined: Jan 2012
Got to pay for his new raise somehow.
............................................................
http://www.icompositions.com/artists/jlgerk
Posts: 798
Threads: 38
Joined: May 2005
The bus fare increase is effectively a regressive tax increase on the poorest of the poor and is extremely short sighted in the goal of getting more people to use public transportation. I personally would be glad to pay more property taxes to take the bus back to being free, improve County roads, hire enough people so building permits are issued quickly, keep dumps open 24/7, and increase emergency services in lower Puna. I think most County workers are underpaid vs. mainland public sector employees. I'm guessing we won't get any of that however. I'm also guessing nothing will be done about the very fat construction contracts the County gives away.
Posts: 14,083
Threads: 424
Joined: Aug 2012
Serious question:
Anyone have any idea how much tax we'd have to pay to get real services/infrastructure in Puna?
Posts: 2,014
Threads: 46
Joined: Jun 2003
Here's a thought.- make property tax % increases equal to the owners % raises, not a penny more.
David
Ninole Resident
Please visit vacation.ninolehawaii.com
Ninole Resident
Posts: 2,490
Threads: 222
Joined: Dec 2005
“Aging computers have become a drag on worker productivity,” Kenoi said.
Sheesh, really? Just how much does it cost to upgrade computers these days?
Posts: 1,163
Threads: 32
Joined: Aug 2009
quote:
Originally posted by ericlp
“Aging computers have become a drag on worker productivity,” Kenoi said.
Sheesh, really? Just how much does it cost to upgrade computers these days?
Actually, the more relevant question to ask is "How much does it cost to upgrade all the County network infrastructure (hardware and software) that haven't been upgraded over the past 5+ years due to budget constraints and lack of appreciation for the positive impact of a properly outfitted network infrastructure?"
The county still has employees working on computers running Windows 2000 (introduced 13 years ago) and Windows XP (introduced in 2001). And I've heard that there is more computing power in my smartphone than there is in some of the County's legacy network servers.
Looks like the new, younger, more tech-savvy Council and the Mayor realize that they need to bring their technology (hardware and software) closer to modern standards. Unfortunately, that costs money, but it will hopefully alleviate some of the problems we all gripe about on PunaWeb.
Posts: 2,151
Threads: 73
Joined: Mar 2007
The mayor, having been on what passes locally for an austerity budget, is chomping at the bit to get more money. If there were a remote chance that the money would be spent wisely (it won't)and for the right things, it might be worth considering. The problem is that the tax increase coupled with the on-going rise in property values will result in a double whammy, producing a net cost to the tax payers far in excess of the 10% being requested. Kenoi and company owe a lot of unionized county employees and contractor campaign contributors payback for their election support. I'm very doubtful that the money will go to "alleviate some of the problems we all gripe about on Punaweb" as KeaauRich says.
Posts: 14,083
Threads: 424
Joined: Aug 2012
The US Senate is fast-tracking a bill that would allow (or perhaps "require") States to levy sales tax on out-of-state purchases (eg, an "Amazon Tax").
Rest assured, our governor will not leave that money "on the table", so we'll get a matching State bill as soon as the Feds have cleared up the "interstate commerce" issue.
I wonder where this "extra" money will go, considering that we'll have additional local tax increases in the meanwhile?
Posts: 2,490
Threads: 222
Joined: Dec 2005
quote:
Originally posted by KeaauRich
Actually, the more relevant question to ask is "How much does it cost to upgrade all the County network infrastructure (hardware and software) that haven't been upgraded over the past 5+ years due to budget constraints and lack of appreciation for the positive impact of a properly outfitted network infrastructure?"
My first thought to that "upgrade" was that facebook and twitter must be getting slow!
I know on Maui they have supercomputers (or at least they did) and had at the time a fast network. I wonder how fast the network is in Hilo? What is the big islands network capacity? I assume that we have fiber connecting to maui or oahu.
