The last time Sandi Kato-Klutke went to Koke‘e State Park, she worried that her small pickup truck might disappear into one of the cavernous potholes there, and she would never be heard from again. The general manager of Aston at
The last time Sandi Kato-Klutke went to Koke‘e State Park, she worried that her small pickup truck might disappear into one of the cavernous potholes there, and she would never be heard from again.
The general manager of Aston at Poipu Kai, and president of the Kauai Business Council and Kaua‘i chapter of the Hawaii Hotel & Lodging Association, was only half-joking when she made that comment, which not coincidentally covers two top Kauai Business Council priorities now and when the state Legislature convenes later this month.
Kato-Klutke said traffic relief, affordable housing, state-park improvements, the continued flow of state funds to the Hawaii Tourism Authority for tourism promotion, and funds for improvement and maintenance of state-owned infrastructure are the five priority items as told by KBC leaders to the four-member Kaua‘i delegation to the state Legislature.
Making sure that the transient accommodations tax (TAT, or hotel-room tax) doesn’t increase is another priority of KBC members, she said. A bit more detail on the KBC legislative priorities follows:
- Traffic relief: speed up both short- and long-term traffic fixes;
- Housing: “We’re looking for affordable homes for our people (all Kauaians, including those in the visitor industry),” including affordable properties to rent and purchase, she said;
- Parks: increase funding for state-parks maintenance and improvements. Kaua‘i is home to Hawai‘i’s major state parks, but funding for maintenance and improvements of these parks has been lacking, she said. During the meeting with lawmakers, there was a “major discussion on Koke‘e;”
- HTA funding: either keep it at current levels, or increase it back to 1998 levels. When the state Legislature established by law the HTA in 1998, which included the TAT funding dedicated to HTA, the percentage of TAT revenues to fund HTA promotional and operational efforts was 37.9 percent of all TAT revenues, or about $60 million at that time, explained Murray Towill, HHLA president. In 2002, the law was amended to decrease that percentage to 32.6 percent, when state legislators had major concerns about HTA accountability issues and other matters, he explained. Since then, HTA leaders have done a good job addressing those accountability issues, and HHLA leaders are ready to ask leaders at the state Legislature to look at upping the percentage of TAT to HTA, he said. “We think it is an appropriate time to re-visit” the matter of funding levels. “We’re hopeful,” he said;
- Improvements to and maintenance of state-owned infrastructure: while this item could fit in with the matters of traffic relief and parks above, this was made a priority item also because there are some state-owned irrigation systems critical to continued agricultural production on the island, Kato-Klutke said.
Representatives from the Kaua‘i Visitors Bureau, Poipu Beach Resort Association, West Kauai Business and Professional Association, Contractors Association of Kauai, Kapaa Business Association, Kaua‘i Chamber of Commerce, North Shore Business Council, East Kauai Water Users Cooperative, Kauai County Farm Bureau, Kauai Economic Development Board, Kauai Board of Realtors, and county Office of Economic Development all sit on the Kauai Business Council.
Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
