LIHUE — The cost of cars, and dumping, may be on the rise soon. The Kauai County Council is proposing to increase the county’s disposal fees as well as its motor vehicle weight tax, although not every council member is
LIHUE — The cost of cars, and dumping, may be on the rise soon.
The Kauai County Council is proposing to increase the county’s disposal fees as well as its motor vehicle weight tax, although not every council member is wild about the idea of raising costs.
“We can see how spirited this discussion will be going forward because we have huge challenges,” Councilman Tim Bynum said when he introduced both bills.
“I’m a supporter of user fees, when they’re done properly, make sense and the people who are benefiting from it are paying for it,” he added.
The first bill, Bill 2515, proposes a tipping fee increase for business, commercial and nonresidential customers disposing solid municipal waste from $90 to $129 per ton at county landfills, refuse transfer stations and debris recycling stations with vehicle scales.
The new fee schedule will also increase dumping charges for materials with asbestos — from $178 to $218 per ton — and dead animals — from $90 to $119 per ton.
Disposal fees at facilities with an inoperable vehicle scale will also change under the proposed bill, ranging from $21 per cubic yard for uncompacted municipal solid waste, a $5 increase, to $98 per cubic yard for asbestos containing material, a $28 increase.
In all, $2.8 million in solid waste tipping fees were collected during the 2012 fiscal year, according to county financial reports. Around $3.5 million was collected last year.
Bill 2514 proposes to increase the county’s motor vehicle weight tax for all passenger vehicles from $0.0125 to $0.02 per pound. Taxes for non-passenger vehicles, such as tractor trailers, semi-trailers and truck tractors, will increase from $0.025 to $0.04 per pound.
The increase would raise the average tax range on a 3,000-pound car from $37.50 to $60. A 4,500-pound compact car would increase from $56.25 to $90 — a 60 percent increase jump.
The average tax range on a 7,500-pound truck would also increase 60 percent from $93.75 to $150. A 12,000-pound truck would jump to from $150 to $240.
According to county financial reports, $4.1 million in motor vehicle weight taxes were collected during the 2012 fiscal year. A total of $4.2 million was collected last year.
County officials haven’t determined yet how much additional revenue the changes could generate.
The two bills passed on first reading by a 5 to 2 vote but not before some voiced their concerns about the measure.
Councilman Mel Rapozo voted against the bill.
“People are struggling right now and … I don’t believe we’ve seen enough effort put in the cost-cutting measures in our county,” Rapozo said. “We have a lot of opportunities and options still available to us, and I think we should explore other options before we increase our citizen’s taxes.”
A similar measure, he said, was put forth during the last county budget session and voted down by the council at that time.
“I’ve heard from the community and I’m continuing to hear from the community,” Rapozo said. “It’s a few weeks away from Christmas, and we’re giving them a Christmas gift of a tax increase. That’s not right.”
Councilman Ross Kagawa, who also voted against the measure, agreed and said he was worried the increases would hit local businesses the hardest and make it difficult for them to compete with Mainland companies.
“We’re seeing a lot of off-island, out-of-state companies that are slowly taking over our local businesses, because they’re able to sustain themselves during down times and have more capital,” Kagawa said. “I just think this is one area where we can alleviate our local residents, enable them to compete for jobs and sustain them during those down times.”
Other council members said they are concerned about the rising costs associated with maintaining the island’s roads and landfills and viewed the proposed bills as one option that should be discussed.
“From all prognostications, it’s going to be a large bill we’re going to have to pay to do preventive maintenance to our roads, which if we don’t do, we pay one way or the other — we pay by car repairs or repaving the roads,” Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura said. “We have to be responsible in figuring out how to keep our infrastructure in good repair and this is one way.”
At issue, Bynum said, is the need to sustain a wide variety of services requested by residents and maintain them at a reasonable level.
“If these fees don’t come from here, they are going to come from somewhere else,” Bynum said. “To me, these are good social, public policies at this stage, especially the tipping fees.”
Yukimura said she had some concerns about the two bills but acknowledged that the bills are timely, since a county audit expected to be presented next month should provide the council with a better understanding of the county’s needs.
“I have many concerns, especially about solid waste division in terms of the management there, so it’s not like I’m totally in favor of these fees right now,” Yukimura said. “They can be amended, they can be modulated, or they can be killed, but I think we need to have this discussion.”
A public hearing on the two bills is scheduled for the council’s Jan. 16 meeting at the Historic County Building in Lihue.
• Darin Moriki, county government reporter, can be reached at 245-0428 or dmoriki@thegardenisland.com. Follow him on Twitter at @darinmoriki.
