Aloha Committee Members, Staff, and Attendees. I recently moved back to Maui in January 2025 because I was blessed with the opportunity to purchase my family home. I was born and raised on Maui and lived on Maui for over 45 years before I moved away for about 5 years in order to save money. I learned that for the entire next year, 2026, I will need to pay the non-home owner occupied property tax even though I am actually living in my residence since I purchased it. This is because the property tax home owner occupied exemption looks at the 2024 state tax return to decide if one qualifies for the home owner occupied exemption in 2026. So, for an entire year, twelve months, I will need to pay almost $1000 extra each month even though I will be a home owner occupying my residence. I moved away from Maui because of the high cost of living. Since moving back early in the year, I've noticed the vast inflation in prices across the board. So, in addition to that, who has an extra $1000 each month for property taxes in a classification that don't even apply to them? The County is trying to keep locals on Maui and trying to entice locals to move back to Maui; one of the ways to do this is to reform the property tax rules. I remember reading on someone’s Facebook post that you might want to consider the number of years we have been a resident of Maui and create some type of sliding scale based on that. I think that is a great idea to start with. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Aloha Committee Members, Staff, and Attendees. I recently moved back to Maui in January 2025 because I was blessed with the opportunity to purchase my family home. I was born and raised on Maui and lived on Maui for over 45 years before I moved away for about 5 years in order to save money. I learned that for the entire next year, 2026, I will need to pay the non-home owner occupied property tax even though I am actually living in my residence since I purchased it. This is because the property tax home owner occupied exemption looks at the 2024 state tax return to decide if one qualifies for the home owner occupied exemption in 2026. So, for an entire year, twelve months, I will need to pay almost $1000 extra each month even though I will be a home owner occupying my residence. I moved away from Maui because of the high cost of living. Since moving back early in the year, I've noticed the vast inflation in prices across the board. So, in addition to that, who has an extra $1000 each month for property taxes in a classification that don't even apply to them? The County is trying to keep locals on Maui and trying to entice locals to move back to Maui; one of the ways to do this is to reform the property tax rules. I remember reading on someone’s Facebook post that you might want to consider the number of years we have been a resident of Maui and create some type of sliding scale based on that. I think that is a great idea to start with. Thank you for your time and consideration.