TGI candidate profile: Billy DeCosta

Bill DeCosta

• Age: 57

• Town of residence: ‘Oma‘o

• Occupation: Kapa‘a High School building and construction teacher, councilmember (2020-present)

Q: The coronavirus pandemic decimated the tourism industry Kaua‘i and the state are so reliant upon. Should Kaua‘i County make economic diversity a priority, and if so, how?

Let’s improve our agriculture, farming and ranching to provide more sustainable food products for our people, our restaurants, our hotels/resorts and our exporting of the value-added products. Revitalize the Agribusiness Development Corporation ag lands in Waimea and Kekaha. Create community farming and ranching. O‘ahu has 1 million people. Time to tap into that market.

Q: The County Council sets real-property-tax rates as part of the county budget process. What changes, if any, would you make to the way that property is taxed on-island?

Raising taxes is an ineffective way to balance our budget. It should be our last resort. Having agriculture land owners pay their appropriate amount of taxes, no exceptions because of tree-farming dedication, holding transient vacation rentals/resorts to paying their taxes, NOT raising residential homeowner taxes, making residential investor second and third home owners pay their class of taxes appropriately. Incentive these homeowners with our affordable-rent-property-tax relief so we can infuse more rental units into our current inventory.

Q: Kaua‘i continues to look for a new landfill site, years after its search began. The clock is ticking: The Kekaha landfill is currently projected to reach capacity in January 2027. What is your preferred solution?

This should have been taken cared of by now, we are 7-10 years behind. We need to site a new landfill immediately.

Q: The median price of a single-family home on Kaua‘i is over $1 million, and the County’s 2018 General Plan reported 44% of all households are cost-burdened. How will you address the affordable housing crisis on Kaua‘i?

This is the golden question and no one has that right, one answer solution. Real estate has been doubling every 7-10 years, it is our hugest hurdle. The lack of inventory in the supply amount, which drives the demand up, which then makes the prices unaffordable is a domino affect. We, the County, havemade work force housing a priority, inputting close to $15 million this last year with three major projects on its way. Lima Ola in ʻEleʻele, Waimea 400 on the Westside and Kilauea work force housing on our 40 plus acres.

Our County has many other pressing issues besides housing and making sure our county runs fiscally responsible is my main concern. When we build these work force housing projects we need to ensure our middle and economical challenged classes are benefiting. In our requirements you only need to prove a drivers license and proof of someone’s address in order to qualify. A drivers license can be obtained within your first day upon arriving from the mainland. This means any transplant with a drivers license and an address can apply for our housing projects. Because we are part of the U.S., making a longer residential requirement would be an act of discrimination. We need all of our entities to work together in order to pull this crisis off. First of all, we need better infrastructure to handle the more influx of new home owners when we build these new projects, we need our realtors to advocate to their sellers to sell to a local family instead of the mainlander who offered $100,000 more, we need to increase our inventory supply in areas where their is existing infrastructure already, we have a plan to increase density in urban areas, we need to help our local families with failing cesspools before they will be forced to sell because of our non compliant 2050 conversion rule, we need to budget your tax dollars during our budget process cut corners, put projects on hold, and add revenue to our housing agency to assist with the cost of work force housing.

We need to lobby our State and Federal political leaders for additional funding, housing is a State responsibility. We need to find a better application processing system to ensure those that qualify are truly locals whose families are generational residents.

Q: What is driving you to seek election or re-election, and why should voters give you their vote?

I have the leadership qualities, the vision for a sustainable Kauai and good common sense, so it is time for me to give back to my people and my Island for all what it has done for me. Remember, I take no donations, I fund my own campaign, no lobbist or big bussinees own me, I am truthful, compassionate and fair to my decision for the people of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau.