I respectfully Support this increase in investment properties. These fat cats are coming to Maui buying then flipping houses raising the rent to impossible hights, displacing hard working Maui residents! These owners do not live in these houses. They are profiting off Maui like vultures and they are not part of the community! They should be priced out, not the residents who live and work here.

I support Councilmember Gabe Johnson's proposed funding. This will help Aloha House to help address substance use and behavioral health issues among homeless.
Also I feel that in general all of Maui's property taxes are ridiculously low.
Jerry Welch

Aloha Chair and Members:

I support a 5-6% property tax increase on investment properties such as short term rentals, hotels and non-owner occupied luxury homes. That will raise about $20 million in additional funds to be used for affordable housing and infrastructure.

Itʻs time for people who are profiting off Maui to pay their fair share. We can no longer coddle the wealthy, when people who live here are working two and even three jobs and still can’t afford a home.

Mahalo nui loa.

Public Testimony - Budget Committee

We are advocates for getting 100% affordable projects in the pipeline sooner than later. This is because of all of the incentives that are coming to Hawaii from the federal government that include affordable housing. It always seems that there are deals that are not shovel ready, but unless you start spending something now, they will not ever be shovel ready.

This is especially true in the more remote locations where there are less incentives available to bring in infrastructure, like Lana’I, Molokai , and Hana. As we all know, these more remote location all need affordable housing to be developed as well.

Kindest regards,

Tom Fischer
Cell Tel. No. (614) 205-0002

The property tax division assessments should be reviewed by a third party every year. Hundreds of millions of dollars is at stake. They go to council with their presentation of the roll and then pat themselves on the back, but no objective authority has reviewed their work. The council simply rubber stamps it. Please change this. Thank you.

Testimonies received from BFED Committee.

I am in absolute agreement for the tax increase on investment properties
I would also recommend to impose airport landing fee at $26 per passenger - Maui County tends to “punish” its people - instead let’s charge the above fees - anyone that can buy a second home in Maui will be able
To afford the extra tax - in regards to airport tax it’s a common tax imposed at all airports
Mahalo

Please find below testimony from Shay and Ian Chan Hodges, Responsible Markets:

Aloha Committee Chair Rawlins-Fernandez, Vice-Chair Paltin, and BFED Committee Members:

Mahalo for considering the continuation of funding of Responsible Market’s Maui ESG Project as Council Member Shane Sinenci’s conditional priority under Technology in Business or Climate Mitigation.

We are currently in Washington, DC pursuing strategic approaches to enable the people of Maui County to access federal resources from the Biden administration’s proposed $2 trillion American Jobs Plan, which seeks to create millions of good jobs and rebuild the infrastructure of the United States. According to the Biden White House, “this is no time to build back to the way things were. This is the moment to reimagine and rebuild a new economy.”

We believe that Maui County residents — who over the past year have experienced the highest level of unemployment in the U.S. — are ready to reimagine and rebuild a new economy. We believe that the people of Maui County are making it clear that we do not want to go back to the way things were before the pandemic.

Accomplishing the creation of a new economy in Maui County will require significant investment from both the public and private sectors. But this investment will need to be structured in a manner that incorporates Ahupua’a values and meets environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards.

As we have described in our previous presentations, there are many reasons for investors to prioritize Maui County for renewable energy, water, other infrastructure systems, and agricultural funding. Furthermore, because of the Biden Administration’s emphasis on resilience, equity, and an inclusive economy, ESG investment and community-based governance provide compelling solutions that can be implemented locally and replicated nationally.

We hope to make progress on this front in the coming weeks as we spend additional time in DC and then travel to New York City.

We are also in the process of completing a “Framework For Diversifying Maui’s Economy & Strengthening Communities,” which describes how clearly articulated community- driven values, standards, and expected outcomes combined with financially viable innovative projects can lay the groundwork for economic, social, and environmental sustainability in Maui County.

In the coming fiscal year, the Maui ESG Project will continue to work on “Capital Deployment for Community Need” and to take ESG actions that “bake in” equity, resiliency, environmental protections, community ownership, good jobs for residents, and cultural competency for new and existing projects, sectors, and industries.

The Maui ESG Project will focus on the following Ahupuaʻa investment solutions:
• Resilient public infrastructure, with climate change and indigenous considerations
• Renewable Energy, addressing community and indigenous concerns
• Electrification of Transportation, prioritizing equity and vulnerable communities
• Regenerative Agriculture, including funding options to support the mission of the new county Ag Department
• Affordable Housing, incorporating federal funding and policy realignments and ESG investment & analyses
• Intellectual property finance that provides residual benefits for local communities
• Shoreline erosion mitigation and other coastal resiliency issues

The Maui ESG Project will further:
• Support integration of transparent and accountable ESG standards and community- driven governance and revenue models into existing infrastructure and resilience projects
• Work to identify sources of investment capital for community-based initiatives
• Analyze proposed and existing Maui investments from an ESG perspective
• Work with community members to develop community-based ESG standards and a community-based audit as a requirement for investments that are not community developed

We’ve recently formed the Capital Deployment for Community Need Task Force, which has been providing:
• Substantive feedback on the “Framework For Diversifying Maui’s Economy & Strengthening Communities”
• Introductions to other ESG investors and experts
• Identification of sources of ESG and Impact investment
• Community education about governance and financial models/investment options

Though we were not able to testify at the County Council meeting last Friday because of the EDT/HST time difference, we were able to watch the recorded public testimony over the weekend, which called for solutions that address climate change and economic diversification away from mass tourism.

We strongly believe that the work of the Maui ESG Project thus far has laid vital groundwork for providing the community with the tools and resources to develop the needed vehicles for a new Ahupuaʻa economy on Maui.

We look forward to answering any questions that you may have about the Maui ESG Project.

Mahalo,
Shay and Ian Chan Hodges

Co-Organizers, Maui ESG Project (a Responsible Markets, LLC Initiative)

I support Maui Council member Johnsonʻs proposal for increasing selected property taxes. We need more help for our local community from those who are profitting from using our ʻĀina.
Other States with higher taxes cn fund better schools, support better infrastructure, and assist other local needs

Respectfully ask that this be supported by this council now. We are in a housing crisis and yet we have one of the lowest property taxes in the United States? Those that will be affected financially already have 1-3 other homes. The money gained will
Benefit the infrastructure badly needed for affordable housing of those who live and work here as well as millions of tourists who drive the same roads. Thank you for helping residents.

I am in support of increased tax on investment properties. This would provide needed funding for infrastructure while also helping to increase available properties for locals (by making them less appealing to nonresident buyers).

I support the proposal to increase taxes on investment property for infrastructure. We need to make it less profitable/desirable for people to come in and buy up local properties as investments, that those properties out of reach of our local people. The time is now. People are buying properties sight unseen, bidding over asking price and banking on the fact that they'll be able to make their money back tenfold by charging several hundred dollars per night for short term vacation rentals. I also am in full support of a moratorium on new hotel permits.

I support the tax increase to fund affordable housing. The current housing situation is unsustainable and dangerous for longtime residents as they are being priced out by remote workers and visitors.

I agree with Maui Council Member Johnson that Maui needs to invest in better infrastructure, especially the roads, water and sewer systems -- as well as affordable housing. I was surprised to learn that we have some of the lowest property taxes in the United States, and I support Council Member Johnson's proposal of a 5-6% increase on investment properties such as short term rentals, hotels and non-owner occupied luxury homes.

As a Maui resident who works for a local non profit that assists people with housing, I know how badly we need more housing.
We need to make it less profitable/desirable for people to come in and buy up local properties as investments, thereby taking those properties out of reach of our local people. I am in full support of a tax increase on investment properties to go toward infrastructure and workforce housing. The time is now. People are buying properties sight unseen, bidding over asking price and banking on the fact that they'll be able to make their money back tenfold by charging several hundred dollars per night for short term vacation rentals. Or, perhaps they have so much money (I can't fathom it, but apparently many have this much money), they don't even need to rent it. It sits empty many weeks out of the year until they are so inclined to come back. Our housing market is completely out of whack.

in total support of Funding Donation to Kaahumanu Church - our history is slowly disappearing - please do not let this Historic and important Church be another victim. Mahalo

The proposed $150,000 donation to Wailuku's historical Ka'ahumanu Church (Wailuku Ekalesia Hoole Pope) is of paramount importance. The present building was built in 1875 by Edward Bailey in New England style Gothic architecture and is "an excellent example of the adaption of this style to Hawaii and the use of native Hawaiian materials." Much of the church grounds are historical, including the cemetery that holds the grave of first Hawaiian blind preacher, Bartimeaeus Puaʻaili, 1785-1843. The steeple, which now has termite-eaten timbers, a broken window and other problems, is a bell tower that holds a Henry Northey Hooper bell. It is engraved with Hooper & Company, Boston 1840. It came around the South American horn and then was hung in the steeple. Hooper's bell still chimes. The Seth Thomas Clock, 6" diameter, on the side of the steeple, was designated the "town clock" by Maui County officials in 1964. It was a gift from Edward Bailey in 1884. Its cost then was $1000. It still strikes on the hour, day and night. Ka'ahumanu Church was put on the National Registry of History Places in 1975; in 1974 it was placed on the Hawaii Register of Historic Places. I believe that communities thrive when their historic properties are maintained. The Ka'ahumanu Church and its iconic steeple that is seen from so far on Maui is one such historic property whose time has come for restoration. The $150,000 donation could help with the removal of the lead paint on the exterior of the church. In 2016, my neighbors and a few Daughters of the American Revolution members, of which I am an officer, spent 800+ hours restoring the 15 pews inside the church. Please start the ball rolling by investing in this historic property for future generations. Be the tipping point so that others can pursue grants or other community efforts to restore this magnificent church!

As a resident of Maui, I'm in full support of the proposed tax increase on investment properties to fund affordable housing for locals.

As a 35 year Maui resident working full-time and many years in a non-profit, I am in full support of a tax increase on investment properties to go toward infrastructure for workforce housing.