Testimony received from BFED Committee

Enough is enough.

Maui residents are watching their government struggle to perform its most basic responsibilities while millions of dollars continue to flow out through grants, subsidies, and handouts to nonprofits, organizations, and special interests. Meanwhile the people who actually fund this government—the residents and taxpayers of Maui County—are left dealing with rising costs, failing infrastructure, crime, slow permitting, and departments that can barely keep up with their core duties.

Ask a simple question: when was the last time you saw an ordinary resident stand in front of the council asking for taxpayer money to pay their bills, tax-free? It doesn’t happen. Working families on Maui handle their responsibilities every day without subsidies or special treatment. Yet government seems far more comfortable writing checks to organizations than fixing the systems it directly controls.

The county’s responsibility is not to function as a grant-distribution agency. Its responsibility is to run the government—public safety, roads, drainage, permitting, planning, infrastructure, and the departments residents rely on every single day. Those systems should be functioning at a high level before taxpayer money is dispersed elsewhere.

At the same time, residents are being asked to trust leadership despite a record that raises serious concerns. We have seen leadership failures, rising public safety questions, and a government structure that often appears more focused on messaging and programs than on competence and results. Accountability matters, and public officials should always be prepared to answer for the outcomes under their watch.

If Maui residents want things to change, the first step is showing up, paying attention, and demanding accountability. Government should serve the people of this island first—not political priorities, not press releases, and not a network of organizations funded by public money.

Support the departments you are responsible for. Fix the systems that are failing residents. Focus on competence and results.

And if leaders cannot do that, they should step aside and allow people who will.

I am neutral on Bill No. 63 on changing the name of the County revolving fund from the "Hawaiian cultural restoration revolving fund" to the "Lahaina royal complex restoration revolving fund". I think either title is a good title for this fund. I think the title that it is now is good though and I wanted to point out that keeping the title as it is could help support all different historic sites throughout the historic district of Lahaina in the future. The title could be helpful without having to make another county fund in the future, if it was ever expanded to assist in preserving more historic sites found or new findings that could come up during the rebuilding in Lahaina that may need further funding assistance. Lahaina Restoration Foundation does a wonderful job on preserving historic sites in Lahaina as a 501(c)3, but I am sure would appreciate support from the County in this way. However, if the funds are ever only going to be allowed to be used at the designated "Lahaina Royal complex' sites then the new name for it sounds acceptable and more specific for it. I do support the purpose of including the newly found sites at Kamehameha III school and the library areas Makai of Front Street to this funding. There has been so much archaeological findings at these locations and will need a lot of maintenance and support from the County. I believe letting any remaining funding from each fiscal year's budget accumulate every fiscal year is important too since maintaining active archaeological sites will be expensive over the decades. Thank you for your consideration and thought process on this matter.