LIHUE — A divided Kauai County Council committee approved a budget proposal by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. that could lower the amount of property tax revenues set aside for public access and open space projects next year. That proposal, spelled
LIHUE — A divided Kauai County Council committee approved a budget proposal by Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr. that could lower the amount of property tax revenues set aside for public access and open space projects next year.
That proposal, spelled out in Bill 2541, would allocate at least 0.5 percent of all real property taxes collected to the county’s Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Fund — a move that may prompt a $849,805 dip in funding over the next fiscal year, according to Carvalho’s budget proposal.
This fund currently receives at least 1.5 percent of all real property taxes collected by the County of Kauai.
Four of the five County Council members on the governing body’s Planning Committee approved the measure Wednesday but not before many said they were torn between protecting a vital, voter-approved fund and balancing the county’s budget.
Councilman Tim Bynum, who voted in favor of the bill, said “it is critical to leave this option open” and look at revenue generating options at a time when officials are also trying to fund a wide variety of projects and build up the county’s emergency reserve fund.
“This is a sacred cow,” Bynum said about the Open Space Fund, “but I’m actually considering letting some of it go because we need to behave fiscally responsibly.”
Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura, who cast the lone dissenting vote against the bill, said approving the move may cause complacency over time and prompt the seven-member board to continually decrease, rather than increase, the amount of county tax revenue for open space and public access projects.
“This is a fund that, if you start taking from it, you’re going to get used to taking from it,” Yukimura said. “I think we need to learn how to live with us putting aside — like putting aside for a college fund or a financial reserve. It’s a discipline that we need to get used to and we need to figure out how to do it every year.”
The five-member Planning Committee, by a split 3-2 vote, also struck down a proposed amendment to the mayor’s budget proposal that would have allowed potential cuts in tax revenue allocations for the next two fiscal years only.
This proposal, in turn, would have restored the minimum allocation limit to 1.5 percent beginning in the 2016-2017 fiscal year.
Council members Yukimura, Mel Rapozo and Ross Kagawa cast the dissenting votes against the measure.
“I think it improves on a bad idea, so I support that, but at the end of the day, I’m going to have a difficult time supporting the underlying intent of the administration,” said Councilman Gary Hooser, who does not sit or vote on the Planning Committee.
Bill 2541 is currently scheduled for final reading during the County Council’s public meeting Wednesday at the Historic County Building in Lihue. If approved there, it would be enacted.
