From: Norman Stubbs <nstubbs@hawaii.rr.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 3, 2024 3:17 PM
To: Shane M. Sinenci <Shane.Sinenci@mauicounty.us>; Gabe Johnson <Gabe.Johnson@mauicounty.us>; Keani N. Rawlins <Keani.Rawlins@mauicounty.us>; Tamara A. Paltin <Tamara.Paltin@mauicounty.us>; Tasha A. Kama <Tasha.Kama@mauicounty.us>; Alice L. Lee <Alice.Lee@mauicounty.us>; Yukilei Sugimura <Yukilei.Sugimura@mauicounty.us>; Thomas M. Cook <Thomas.Cook@mauicounty.us>; Nohe M. Uu-Hodgins <Nohe.Uu-Hodgins@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Testimony, Budget Hearings
Aloha members of the Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee
Mahalo to all of you for all that you do for our county.
I attended the hearing at the Paia Community Center and wanted to testify but I am not sure that what I want to talk about fits in with spirit of what the hearing is about. Never the less because the flyer advertising the meeting included the proposed property tax rates, I want to testify in that regard.
There are two parts to assigning how much property tax one has to pay. There are the rates and there is the assessed value of the property. I don’t have much problem with the first part: the different rates between classes of property and the progression to higher rates for higher values. The rates seem to be something that has been worked out with a lot of thought and discussion by a lot of people.
Before you assume that this is just self-serving testimony, I want to show you unintended consequences of improper property value assessment that are very detrimental to the public interest, specifically to affordable housing and the cost of living on Maui.
I have a 2 acre lot that is raw agricultural land, land that I bought in 1969. At that time, 2 acre lots in Haiku were selling for $8000. This year’s Notice of Real Property Assessment puts the value of that land at $976, 600. What is disturbing is that last year’s assessment put the value at $569,700. That is a $406,900 or 71% increase in one year! There has been NO improvements to the lot. I believe the value is about $600,000 as does my neighbor who is an experienced real estate agent.
Mine is not an isolated case; I checked. The same thing happened to most of my neighbors and to the lot owners in the general area. The land value of 2 acre lots are being appraised at close to 1M.
How did this happen? There are two parts to a property appraisal, the value of the land and the value of buildings. The market determines on average for what price a property can be sold. Within that price an appraiser apportions some of the value to the land and some to the buildings. If the buildings are undervalued, then the land will be overvalued. For this appraisal year there were very few raw land comparables so the appraiser took comparables with buildings and subtracted the previous year’s value of the buildings assuming that what remained would be the value of the land. Over the last 3 years, the cost of building has gone way up. I was building and thought that the minimum cost would be $200/sqft. That was no longer true; the minimum cost I was told was at least $400/sqft.
So here are the undesired consequences. Say I am considering selling my 2 acre lot with a 1200 sqft house on it. My Notice of Real Property Assessment has told me that my lot is worth 1M and my friend who is a general contractor tells me that it would cost at least $500,000 to build a house like mine. So, of course, I set my sales price at $1,500,000. Nobody grabs it right away because it is nearly $400,000 overpriced in the market. I am not going to believe that so I hold on. More 2 acre lots come on the market at the higher price and a new price level is set. This scenario would not happen if the land assessment had been right.
Obviously this does not help with affordable housing. All boats are going to rise on the tide of the market. This aberration in 2 acre lot land value assessment will trickle out to raise land value and prices in all other kinds of housing.
Is our own county government going to be responsible for causing housing to become even less affordable? There is time to fix this before property tax bills come out.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stubbs
1 Uapoko Pl
Haiku, HI 96708
808 495 2107
From: jody Singsank <psingsank@icloud.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 3, 2024 4:28 PM
To: County Clerk <County.Clerk@mauicounty.us>
Subject: New Pickleball Courts for Kula
Aloha,
I am part of the Tuesday/Thursday group that plays from 8am -12pm at the Kula Community Center and would like to recommend new pickleball courts for Kula.
Our group purchased our own nets and collect weekly donations to buy pickleballs and masking tape to line our courts.
We are currently able to set up 5 pickleball courts on the top section and sometimes set up one or two more on the bottom section. Sometimes we have more than 45 pickleball players who show up to play!
There are 2 regular groups of 4 tennis players who play doubles on the bottom section on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We have learned to get along and do our best not to disturb their play.
In my opinion, the current location is the best place for new pickleball courts. There is existing and adequate parking, a port-a-potty and ADA approved walkways leading to the courts.
The weather conditions are optimal for pickleball play at this location, with cooler temperatures and little to no wind.
If it is possible to cut into the hillside adjacent to the upper courts and duplicate the footprint and layout of the current upper two courts, we could have six new pickleball courts in this space.
Pickleball brings people together from all walks and stages of life. The social and health benefits have been a blessing to the community of Kula pickleball players.
Please consider funding for new pickleball courts in Kula.
From: Norman Stubbs <nstubbs@hawaii.rr.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 3, 2024 3:17 PM
To: Shane M. Sinenci <Shane.Sinenci@mauicounty.us>; Gabe Johnson <Gabe.Johnson@mauicounty.us>; Keani N. Rawlins <Keani.Rawlins@mauicounty.us>; Tamara A. Paltin <Tamara.Paltin@mauicounty.us>; Tasha A. Kama <Tasha.Kama@mauicounty.us>; Alice L. Lee <Alice.Lee@mauicounty.us>; Yukilei Sugimura <Yukilei.Sugimura@mauicounty.us>; Thomas M. Cook <Thomas.Cook@mauicounty.us>; Nohe M. Uu-Hodgins <Nohe.Uu-Hodgins@mauicounty.us>
Subject: Testimony, Budget Hearings
Aloha members of the Budget, Finance and Economic Development Committee
Mahalo to all of you for all that you do for our county.
I attended the hearing at the Paia Community Center and wanted to testify but I am not sure that what I want to talk about fits in with spirit of what the hearing is about. Never the less because the flyer advertising the meeting included the proposed property tax rates, I want to testify in that regard.
There are two parts to assigning how much property tax one has to pay. There are the rates and there is the assessed value of the property. I don’t have much problem with the first part: the different rates between classes of property and the progression to higher rates for higher values. The rates seem to be something that has been worked out with a lot of thought and discussion by a lot of people.
Before you assume that this is just self-serving testimony, I want to show you unintended consequences of improper property value assessment that are very detrimental to the public interest, specifically to affordable housing and the cost of living on Maui.
I have a 2 acre lot that is raw agricultural land, land that I bought in 1969. At that time, 2 acre lots in Haiku were selling for $8000. This year’s Notice of Real Property Assessment puts the value of that land at $976, 600. What is disturbing is that last year’s assessment put the value at $569,700. That is a $406,900 or 71% increase in one year! There has been NO improvements to the lot. I believe the value is about $600,000 as does my neighbor who is an experienced real estate agent.
Mine is not an isolated case; I checked. The same thing happened to most of my neighbors and to the lot owners in the general area. The land value of 2 acre lots are being appraised at close to 1M.
How did this happen? There are two parts to a property appraisal, the value of the land and the value of buildings. The market determines on average for what price a property can be sold. Within that price an appraiser apportions some of the value to the land and some to the buildings. If the buildings are undervalued, then the land will be overvalued. For this appraisal year there were very few raw land comparables so the appraiser took comparables with buildings and subtracted the previous year’s value of the buildings assuming that what remained would be the value of the land. Over the last 3 years, the cost of building has gone way up. I was building and thought that the minimum cost would be $200/sqft. That was no longer true; the minimum cost I was told was at least $400/sqft.
So here are the undesired consequences. Say I am considering selling my 2 acre lot with a 1200 sqft house on it. My Notice of Real Property Assessment has told me that my lot is worth 1M and my friend who is a general contractor tells me that it would cost at least $500,000 to build a house like mine. So, of course, I set my sales price at $1,500,000. Nobody grabs it right away because it is nearly $400,000 overpriced in the market. I am not going to believe that so I hold on. More 2 acre lots come on the market at the higher price and a new price level is set. This scenario would not happen if the land assessment had been right.
Obviously this does not help with affordable housing. All boats are going to rise on the tide of the market. This aberration in 2 acre lot land value assessment will trickle out to raise land value and prices in all other kinds of housing.
Is our own county government going to be responsible for causing housing to become even less affordable? There is time to fix this before property tax bills come out.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stubbs
1 Uapoko Pl
Haiku, HI 96708
808 495 2107
From: jody Singsank <psingsank@icloud.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 3, 2024 4:28 PM
To: County Clerk <County.Clerk@mauicounty.us>
Subject: New Pickleball Courts for Kula
Aloha,
I am part of the Tuesday/Thursday group that plays from 8am -12pm at the Kula Community Center and would like to recommend new pickleball courts for Kula.
Our group purchased our own nets and collect weekly donations to buy pickleballs and masking tape to line our courts.
We are currently able to set up 5 pickleball courts on the top section and sometimes set up one or two more on the bottom section. Sometimes we have more than 45 pickleball players who show up to play!
There are 2 regular groups of 4 tennis players who play doubles on the bottom section on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We have learned to get along and do our best not to disturb their play.
In my opinion, the current location is the best place for new pickleball courts. There is existing and adequate parking, a port-a-potty and ADA approved walkways leading to the courts.
The weather conditions are optimal for pickleball play at this location, with cooler temperatures and little to no wind.
If it is possible to cut into the hillside adjacent to the upper courts and duplicate the footprint and layout of the current upper two courts, we could have six new pickleball courts in this space.
Pickleball brings people together from all walks and stages of life. The social and health benefits have been a blessing to the community of Kula pickleball players.
Please consider funding for new pickleball courts in Kula.
Thank you.