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Monday, April 28, 2025
April 28, 2025 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 3:36 PM :: 315 Views

‘Empty Homes Tax’ Drives Rent up 37%

You Got Tricked into Voting for ANOTHER Pay Raise to Honolulu City Council, Executives

CB: … a memo landing in staff inboxes announced that salaries are going up again for City Council members, the mayor, the county prosecutor, the fire chief, the police chief and dozens of other top city officials. The raises add another 4% to the pay scale and are effective July 1, when the new fiscal year begins.

The memo is dated April 23 but was just sent out on Friday.

That means City Council members will now make $122,064 a year — up from the $113,000 they were granted by the Honolulu Salary Commission in 2023. Much ado about that 64% pay bump, of course.

Mayor Rick Blangiardi will see his pay increase to $226,080, Prosecutor Steve Alm will be at $214,272 and, The Blog’s favorite, the Honolulu Band director goes up to $191,060….

Sept, 2024: Trickery: Will you be suckered into Voting to Give More Pay Raises to the Honolulu City Council?  (We did warn you.)

Jan 1 2025: Honolulu City Council salary set for annual automatic raises forever

PDF: Screenshot-2025-04-27 NEW RAISES

read … The Sunshine Blog: Another Pay Raise For Honolulu City Council, Executives - Honolulu Civil Beat

New Contracts Give More Than $1 Billion In Union Pay Raises (and that doesn’t include the counties)

CB: … Hawaiʻi lawmakers last week advanced a bundle of bills earmarking hundreds of millions of dollars over the next two years for raises for unionized state employees. Contracts also call for nearly $1 billion for the following two years.

But some public workers are disappointed or angry at the outcome of this year’s bargaining.

If the mood is a bit sour among the union rank and file, that is partly because of timing. Bargaining wrapped up shortly after the Hawaiʻi Commission on Salaries awarded total raises ranging from 35% to 48% over six years to top state leaders, including the governor and his department heads.

By comparison, unionized state workers received raises of 4% or less per year for the next four years. Union leaders say the state urgently needs to boost public workers’ pay to help recruit people to fill vacant state jobs, but the new contracts won’t do that….

(IDEA:  Jail and Prison Guards should decertify UPW and sign up with a guards union.  Suddenly their pay will go up.  Decertifying HGEA and signing up with the Nurses Union worked very well for the nurses at Maui Memorial.)

Counties also will have to come up with money to pay for raises for thousands of their workers, who are covered under the same contracts….

Alex Kuklenko, a UPW member with the Hawaiʻi County Parks Department in Kona, said he is so unhappy with the contract he is seriously considering quitting the union. He said union leaders should have held out for bigger raises, and “it seems like the union doesn’t want to fight for us.”

“Because inflation, all the prices went up already,” said Kuklento, 34. “The park caretakers can go work at Walmart for $24 an hour and just restock shelves.”

(CLUE: UPW/HGEA are more interested in playing politics in the Legislature and creating vacant positions to build a department slush fund than in getting a good contract.)

Kuklenko, 34, said his wife is a unionized hotel worker, and she received a sizable raise with another 5% each year.

“I complained about it, but nobody listens,” he said of the new contract….

read … New Contracts Give More Than $1 Billion In Union Pay Raises - Honolulu Civil Beat

Stuck on Stupid: Failed Vancouver Tax Back for 7th Year at Honolulu Council

CB: … Since Vancouver’s tax took effect in 2017, its inventory of vacant properties has dropped in half from about 2,200 to about 1,100. The city collects about $32 million each year in taxes and penalties.   (And the median 2br unit in Vancouver rents for $3,450 CAD = $2,500 USD.  In Honolulu the average 2br apartment rents for $2,182.  Funny how no other Hawaii media outlet has bothered to mention this even once in SEVEN YEARS.)

Ernst & Young’s study expects Honolulu’s tax to yield a similar amount: between $30 million and $55 million each year from taxing about 1,500 to 2,100 vacant properties at a rate of 1% to 3%. 

(CLUE:  Vancouver has the highest rental costs in Canada.  The Vancouver Tax drives rental rates up, not down.  Why?  Simple: A market with few vacancies has high rents.)

The goal is for the program to pay for itself, at a cost of about $2.3 million upfront and about $4.4 million for each of the first few years, including for enforcement, rising with inflation to $5.7 million by 2035.

(TRANSLATION:  The Vancouver Tax will ‘create positions.’) 

Overall, the presentation says, the city could expect to accumulate between about $290 million and $550 million over the course of 10 years. It also estimates between 640 and 2,000 properties would be returned to the market over a decade, depending on the tax rate and its exemptions….

Cordero and council chair Tommy Waters co-introduced Bill 46 last summer, shortly after the city paid Ernst & Young almost half a million dollars to do the study looking into how the empty homes tax could work in Honolulu. 

The empty homes tax bill almost passed in December. But shortly before its final vote, it became clear that not enough council members supported it, with some wanting to wait for the results of the study….

(IQ Test: Should Honolulu look to a city which is even more expensive as a model on how to lower rental costs?  Y/N)

SA: Honolulu Council to review empty-homes tax study

Bill 46: Text, Status

2019: Debunked: Caldwell’s ‘Vancouver Tax’ Does Nothing to Ease Rental Crisis

2024: Raising Taxes on So-Called 'Empty' Houses will not create More Housing

2024: ‘Empty Homes Tax’ Drives Rent up 37%

read … Too Many Exemptions From Empty Homes Tax Could Cost Honolulu $150 Million - Honolulu Civil Beat

State Legislature Advances HECO Securitization and Wildfire Liability Cap Legislation

IM: … SB897 SD3 HD2 CD1 addresses two complex topics: liability caps for future wildfires and the securitization of funds to finance infrastructure resilience capital investments. This bill is critical to increasing HECO`s credit rating that will lower borrowing costs and avoid rate increases.

SB1501 SD2 HD1 CD1 addresses the use of step-in agreements to enable securitization to backstop new independent power contracts signed with the HECO companies. This bill is critical to allow renewable energy bidders to feel secure that they can recover the costs of their investments.

SB1500 SD2 HD1 CD1 addresses receivership if HECO heads towards bankruptcy or if there is a serious and imminent threat to health, safety, and welfare. This bill is critical to protecting ratepayers as well as present and future utility employees.

Conference Committees passed all three bills…

HNN: Hawaiian Electric could get liability protection under 11th hour proposal

read … State Legislature Advances HECO Securitization and Wildfire Liability Cap Legislation

Maui Asks Feds To Flex Rules Governing $1.6 Billion Wildfire Recovery Grant

CB: … The county wants to use some of the money to rebuild accessory dwelling units but is primarily focused on securing final approval….

read … Maui Asks Feds To Flex Rules Governing $1.6 Billion Wildfire Recovery Grant - Honolulu Civil Beat

Legislature Guts Kauhales, Homeless Emergency Decree Rules

CB: … Late Friday, Rep. Lisa Marten noted some changes from the original bill to increase accountability when she announced the conference committee had reached a deal. Those included requirements for an audit and regular reports on expenditures.

But measure goes much further than Marten described. And many of the changes reflect concerns expressed by the state’s former homelessness coordinator.

It turns out the bill also requires at least two bidders for the construction and development of any kauhale costing more than $1 million. Currently an emergency proclamation on homelessness allows no-bid contracts. That work has gone primarily to HomeAid Hawaiʻi, a nonprofit.

Green’s former homelessness coordinator, John Mizuno, had urged a two-bid requirement before he stepped aside, let’s just say, earlier this year. His successor testified against requiring two bidders.

Mizuno also was critical of off-grid kauhale villages without connections to electric, water and sewer systems even though they are in densely developed urban areas. Lawmakers went with him on that one, too, and will now require any kauhale developed with public money to be on the grid.

In addition, the bill puts the director of the Department of Human Services, Ryan Yamane, in charge. Previously, the program had been overseen by Joseph Campos, a deputy director. Now the state homelessness coordinator will report directly to Yamane.

Finally, the neighbors will have some say before kauhale pop up in their neighborhoods. The bill the homelessness office to “conduct and complete a community consultation process” before developing a village…

(TRANSLATION:  ‘Abandon all hope ye who enter here.’)

read … The Sunshine Blog: Another Pay Raise For Honolulu City Council, Executives - Honolulu Civil Beat

Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill Changes in Conference Committee

MM: … Lawmakers in Hawaii have agreed on medical marijuana legislation that would, among other changes, allow healthcare providers to recommend cannabis to treat any condition they believe it would benefit.

But the latest version of the bill, HB 302—approved Friday by a conference committee consisting of members of both legislative chambers—offers a narrower path to medical marijuana for patients with conditions not already listed in the program. For those patients, a recommendation would need to come from their “primary treating medical provider” rather than a provider who specializes in cannabis.

“It is making changes to the medical medical cannabis law by expanding access,” Rep. Gregg Takayama (D) said at the committee hearing, “by allowing treating physicians and nurses to go beyond the specified medical conditions if they feel it’s appropriate.” …

HB302: Text, Status

read … Advocates In Hawaii Pull Support For Medical Marijuana Expansion Bill Due To Changes By Conference Committee - Marijuana Moment

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