DOUBLE THE DOUGH
HILO — Bolstered by a
state recalculation that shows
a half-cent general excise tax
surcharge would give the county
twice what was originally
thought, Mayor Harry Kim has
resumed lobbying the County
Council to pass it.
Kim announced Wednesday
the surcharge would bring in
$50 million annually, rather
than the previously forecast
$25 million. The difference is
due to more accurate calculations
by the state Department
of Taxation stemming from new
HILO — A controversial
bill that has the
astronomy community
on edge might have violated
the state Senate’s
own rules since it was
crafted without time for
a public hearing.
But that might have
little consequence since
legislators say the chamber
can bend or ignore
them essentially at will.
“It’s self-policing,” said
Sen. Donna Mercado
Kim,
who
raised
concerns
about
House
Bill 1585
on the
Senate
floor
Tuesday. “We have the
rules there for a purpose,”
she added.
The bill has been a
lightning rod for criticism
because it was
rewritten without notice
THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 2018 WESTHAWAIITODAY.COM 75¢
software that better tracks the
source of the taxes, said county
Finance Director Deanna Sako.
Kim wrote a letter to the
council asking it to support
the surcharge. He pledged the
administration “commits to the
County Council a fully cooperative
approach in setting priorities
on the expenditures of these
additional revenues.”
“I consider this a gift to the
people of Hawaii Island,” Kim
said in an interview. “It’s a tremendous
gift to help us catch
up.”
A half-cent GET surcharge
would add 54 cents in tax to
a $100 expenditure. Currently,
through a legislative
process known as “gut
and replace” and would
set a construction moratorium
on Maunakea.
Thirty Meter Telescope
supporters say it would
kill the $1.4 billion
project.
After Sen. Kai Kahele,
who is promoting the
measure, proposed a
minor floor amendment
Tuesday, Kim pointed
to Senate Rule 23
that says a committee
must schedule a bill for
a hearing if it contains
significant or substantial
amendments. She said
she was not objecting to
the bill’s contents.
“However, I also support
the process that we
have here in our Senate
and in our rules,” Kim,
an Oahu Democrat, said
in a video broadcast by
‘Olelo TV and posted on
Big Island Video News.
“Mainly, the process is
to allow the public the
all the GET collected, 4 cents
on the dollar, goes to state, not
county, coffers.
Kim said the $515.7 million
budget currently
proposed allows
only the bare
minimum for
maintenance of
existing roads,
parks and other
projects. That
budget is based
on no new property
taxes and the continuation
of previously approved gas tax
increases.
Kim is scheduled to address
the council Tuesday when he
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kicks off three days of its department
by-department review of
programs and the budget.
The council, with an apparent
majority opposed to the GET
measure, in February postponed
consideration of Bill 102
until no later than May 5. This
allowed the March 31 deadline
imposed by the state Legislature
to run out.
But a bill making its way
through the Legislature would
extend the deadline to enact a
GET surcharge until June 30. In
addition, House Bill 2587 allows
up to 40 percent of the money
to be used for non-transportation
projects and up to 2 percent
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for private roadways that are
used by the public.
Puna Councilwoman Jen
Ruggles, whose district includes
many of the private roads used
by the public, has been asking
for more resources for her
district since she took office in
2016. But she still opposes a
GET increase, she said.
“Considering taking care of
our private roads is long overdue,”
Ruggles said. “However,
this tax is still regressive, still
taxes food and medicine, and
still hurts those can least afford
it.”
Rally at Royal Kona Resort
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PAGE 6A
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NOODLES
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HI 84 LO 74 WEATHER, PAGE 5A
VOL. 50, NO. 102 20 PAGES
GET WORTH TWICE WHAT FIRST THOUGHT
BY NANCY COOK LAUER
WEST HAWAII TODAY
ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com
MAYOR LOBBIES COUNCIL TO PASS HALF-CENT SURCHARGE
H. Kim
SEE DOUGH PAGE 4A
Royal Kona Resort employee Jerry Valdez holds a protest sign at a Local
5 sponsored rally Wednesday in front of the hotel. LAURA RUMINSKI/WEST HAWAII
TODAY
BY MAX DIBLE
WEST HAWAII TODAY
mdible@westhawaiitoday.com
KAILUA-KONA —
Employees at Royal
Kona Resort aren’t on
strike — yet.
A few dozen staff members
clad in red and waving
picket signs rallied
on Kahakai Road fronting
the hotel Wednesday
afternoon. The purpose
of the demonstration
was to bring awareness
to their fight and to the
need for quality jobs
across Hawaii Island.
A vote was held March
19 in which 95 percent
of union employees at
Royal Kona Resort voted
to authorize a strike.
While such action isn’t
pending, it hasn’t been
ruled out.
“There might be a
strike,” said Maggie
Lawson, a member of
the hotel’s housekeeping
department for 27 years.
“It’s hard for us to say.
It all depends on what
kind of counter proposal
(management) offers us.”
Negotiations between
Royal Kona Resort,
owned by Californiabased
Hawaiian Hotels
and Resorts, and Local
5, the union representation
for nearly 200 Royal
Kona Resort employees
and roughly 11,000 other
hospitality, health care
and food service workers
throughout Hawaii, have
been underway for more
than a year.
SEE RALLY PAGE 4A
An artist’s rendering of the proposed Thirty
Meter Telescope atop Maunakea. COURTESY
ILLUSTRATION
‘A step too far’
MAUNAKEA BILL RUNS
INTO YET MORE TROUBLE
BY TOM CALLIS
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
SEE MAUNAKEA PAGE 4A
D. Kim
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