Economic Development and Cultural Programs Revolving Fund
(Chapter 3.81, Maui County Code)
Up to $150,000--for the restoration of the building which houses Ka`ahumanu Church

As the County Administration and the Council of the County of Maui finalize the annual budget process for 2022, I would like to express my gratitude to you for the inclusion of funds to support and ensure that the historic building in Wailuku which houses Ka`ahumanu Church remains the signature feature of the Wailuku Historic District.

Its history spans several centuries ranging from the monarchy period through territorial days and finally statehood and especially after Wailuku became the County seat in 1905. This landmark is a physical and symbolic representation of the evolution of the heart of Wailuku Town As it ages, there is a continuing need for repair and maintenance as well as renovations to meet current building regulations. If the historic building falls into greater disrepair, Wailuku will have lost a major part of its sense of place. Those of us who are of this place are grateful for your continued recognition of the importance of this building in Maui's history. Me ke aloha.

Testimony in support of Funding for MVB

Dear Councilwoman Lee

Why are we cutting funding to the only entity that has our promotion foremost in its interest. The council has steadily reduced this budget over the years. We have been through a pandemic we are not out of it yet. The state may take away our portion of the TAT that we generate, forcing us to add additional tax on hotel accomodations. I know that the council wants to diversify our economy but they had done nothing meaningful or productive to that end.

So cutting our only lifeline for our Island off from an organization that produces a coherent overall marketing message for our only industry is I am sorry to say shooting ourselves in the foot. It is downright stupid!

Thomas Fairbanks
Wailuku

Testimony of James ‘Kimo’ Falconer

Economic Development and Budget Committee Meeting
In consideration of the 2022 County Budget

Meeting of April 23, 2021

Members of the Maui County Council:

I wish to provide this testimony asking for support of the County funding for the line-item budget allocation for the Maui County Farm Bureau. Maui County has always been very supportive of the excellent work the Farm Bureau does for our community.

This funding is granted to the Farm Bureau where it is housed to support ALL our County’s Ag groups. This includes the Maui Cattleman’s Association, Maui Coffee Association, The Landscapers, Organic food growers, Floriculturists, Kula Vacuum Cooling plant, 4-H and the list goes on.

I would ask this body to continue to include in the Count’s budget the line-item funding. The Maui Farm Bureau advocates for all Agriculture, where your vote of support is a vote to help sustain it in these challenging times.

Mahalo for this opportunity to testify.

James 'Kimo' Falconer
President
MauiGrown Coffee, Inc.
MauiGrown Coffee Distributors, LLC
(808)-661-3158 office
(808)-661-4165 fax

Please accept the attached written testimony on behalf of The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii'i. Mahalo!

April 21, 2021
Via Ecomment

Economic Development and Cultural Programs Revolving Fund
(Chapter 3.81, Maui County Code)
(1)Up to $150,000 must be for the restoration of the Kaahumanu Church

Re: Community and Cultural Support of Historical Significant Edifice

Addressed to Maui County Council Budget and Finance Committee

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of the captioned budget proposal.
Kalanikahua Hou, is an advocate of the Kaahumanu Churches goal to preserve the physical and spiritual integrity of Maui’s cultural and historical significance.
We are elated that the Administration has begun to look at this island jewel and regard it as the treasure it was built to be.
We humbly urge you to continue this mission going forward in recognizing the significant treasures that occupy our island, and the importance of preservation in perpetuity.
These decisions and works of humanitarian that you make, will benefit long into the
minds and hearts of Hawaii’s people of all ages, including visitors as well.
Mahalo for your consideration of our plea.
Yours truly,

Joyclynn Costa
Moderator

Cc: File

Testimony submitted to the Economic Development and Budget Committee
Re: Additional money for the Affordable Housing Fund
April 21, 2021
Michael Williams
20 Pulehunui Road, Kula
808-264-4884
MichaelWilliams@PueoFarm.com

Aloha kakou.

I urge you to budget an additional $30 million for the FY 2022 Affordable Housing Fund. You need not specify exactly what it should be used for now, no more than the Mayor has done for the $15 million he proposed. However, I do set out below a short list of what programs I think it would best be used for.
I also urge the EDB Committee to take one more step: authorize (not appropriate) up to $200 million in bond sales for FY 2022 for potential county acquisition of vacant parcels of land suitable for affordable housing projects. The debt service on $200 million in bonds would cost $10 million per year. I no suitable parcels are identified in FY 2022, the bonds need not be sold, and the $10 million will stay in the AH Fund for other programs. If only one or a few parcels are identified, the bond sales need be authorized only for the amount needed to purchase each parcel once its price is set.
There are two teams outside DHHC working to identify a short list of parcels for Affordable Housing projects—one at Hawaii Community Assets, the contractor who will present its final Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan to you in June, and one at Maui Tomorrow Foundation. Both teams are sharing information and collaborating on what criteria should be used for ranking candidate parcels. Wee dividing candidate parcels into three groups: (1) Vacant land already owned by the County; (2) Vacant land owned by private investors, and (3) parcels already identified by developers as affordable housing projects of any kind—some close to construction, some just on the drawing board—these we call the pipeline parcels.
The best model we have seen for an affordable housing project on county-owned land is the Lima Ola 201H project on Kauai, now under construction. It is a planned community of 550 affordable homes, both rentals and for sale, on a 75 acre parcel the county acquired just a few years ago. I am enclosing the county’s 201H application, and a few other documents about the project. It has a website, https://limaolakauai.net/. There is no reason Maui County could not have several such 201H projects. Although Lima Ola is 100% affordable, Maui County could collaborate with private developer to have some market rate homes in such projects.
My main concern today is that if the Council doesn’t set aside enough funds to start creating affordable housing projects on County owned land in FY 2022, we will lose a whole year of momentum.
I know you were disappointed by the HCA presentation of its first draft Comprehensive Affordabloe Housing Plan to CM Johnson’s committee last month. So was I. However, since then, I have been working with the HCA team nearly every day to refine and refocus the Plan for year 1, FY 2022.
Here are the refinements the HCA team has made since Mar 23, and the key programs Maui Tomorrow and Stand Up Maui are pushing for in the FY 2022 budget.
1. HCA has admitted they completely missed the boat on bonding costs. They now agree that the multiplier for an annual revenue stream to total bond funds is 20, not 15 as they presented. What I hope you do is create a $10 million dollar revenue stream, and authorize (not appropriate) $200 million in bonds for potential acquisition of private land by the county.
2. They realize the budget projections now need be for just one year, not 5, as the full Plan will not be ready in time for FY 2022’s budget.
3. As to where to raise the extra $30 million (NOT $1.6 billion!!!) we want for this in next year’s budget, the details are set out just below. The message is: Wealthy investors who own two or more homes but don’t live here, should pay some more in RPT to help families who live here working two or more jobs but can’t afford one house. Hawaii’s Appleseed’s Budget and policy Center has just published an article summarizing new data on the proportion of Maui homes being purchased by non-homeowner investors—in 2020 it reached 70%, and there is no doubt it has grown higher this year. I checked with Marcy Martin and she thinks the data are likely accurate:

A modest start on affordable housing for FY 2022
A. Increase RPT revenues on wealthy mainlanders with two or more homes to fund housing for locals working two or more jobs who can’t afford one house, by $30 million.
1. $10 million to fund $200 million of bond sales for land acquisition for three County 201H projects of 500 homes each, just like the successful Lima Ola project on Kauai. The Comprehensive AH Plan in June will identify the top candidate parcels for county acquisition. If there are any suitable parcels already owned by the county (120 acres around Kihei Police Station, perhaps), design 201H projects there too.
2. $10 million for vendor contracts to draw up RFPs for the 201H project designs, and to start engineering and planning studies for necessary infrastructure; roads, water, sewer, parks.
3. $1 million to create master county wide list of eligible households for affordable rentals and for sale homes—Kauai has had success with such a list for homebuyers. This vendor contract will also provide a legal analysis of how the county can restrict affordable homes to current or recent residents—workforce housing for existing workers.
4. $4 million to expand in FY 22 the First Time Homebuyers program and a Renters’ Aid program.
5. $5 million to support expanding grants to local non-profits to expand social services to the homeless, and for design of several kauhale to be built on county acquired land in FY 2023 and beyond.
B. The new $30 million in RPT revenue will come from raising RPT rates on the 13,500 Short Term Rentals, and on the 5,600 vacant second homes in tiers 2 and 3 of the Non-Owner-Occupied class. (Tier 1 is where most of the long term rental units are—starting in FY 2023 these will be separated into the new LTR class, and then all of the NOOs will be vacant second homes.)
1. This new RPT revenue can be generated by RPT rates well within the ranges in the Notice for Public Hearing for April 28.
2. For STRs, setting a rate across the board of all 3 tiers (total assessed value of $12.8 billion) of $11.90 (1.2%) will generate $152,300,000 in revenue, $24.3 million more than the Mayor’s proposed rates.
3. For NOOs, tier 2 has an assessed value of $2.0 billion, so a rate of $7.20 (the noticed max) will generate $15 million, $2.9 million more than the Mayor’s proposal, and for tier 3, assessed value of $3.8 billion, a rate of $10.00, the noticed max, will generate $38 million, $9.5 million more than the Mayor’s proposal---a total of $12.4 million in new revenue.
4. Together these higher rates on second homes and investment homes will generate $36.7 million of new RPT revenue, more than enough to fund the programs described in 1-5 in A immediately above.
5. For the 13,500 STR owners, the average annual tax increase will be only $24.3 million/13,500 = $1800/yr, $150/mo—an increase that is not an undue burden on people rich enough to own a second-home-condo on Maui.
6. For the 5,600 second home owners in the NOO class tiers 2 and 3, the average annual tax increase is only $12.4 million/5600 = 2214/yr, or $185/mo, not an undue burden on people wealthy enough to own a second home on Maui.

This county has more non-resident real estate wealth per capita than any other county in the country. It has the most profitable and expensive hotels and timeshares in the country. It has exclusive control over property taxes, unlike all other counties in the country except the other 3 in Hawaii.
The owners of this billions of dollars’ worth of real estate, for the most part, neither live nor vote here. The few Maui residents who own more than one home are the richest of our residents. The county has no more duty to protect their real estate investments than their stock market investments.

Attachments:
1. Lima Ola 201H application
2. Kuai County Council Resolution approving the Lima Ola 201H application
3. Excerpt from lima Ola website