ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com
BY NANCY COOK LAUER | WEST HAWAII TODAY
HILO — Developers’ fair share contributions will account for only $3 million of a county capital improvement budget likely to be more than $125 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1.
The county Planning Department released the 2011 annual report Jan. 25, a document that will be considered by the County Council in the coming month. The county code requires the fair share report be prepared by March 1 each year to help in the budget process.
A fair share assessment is levied against new development to help pay for infrastructure to support the additional population that development brings. Ironically, the district of Puna, the fastest-growing region in the county, has no fair share funds available in any category of infrastructure. Nor are there any funds available for Ka’u.
North Kona will get the lion’s share of the fair share appropriations this year, with $1.3 million for fire, parks, police, solid waste and roads. South Hilo, with $528,106, gets the second largest share.
Kohala Councilman Pete Hoffmann, chairman of the council Planning Committee, has very little faith in the fair share system and has repeatedly pushed for an impact fee system instead. His last attempt failed by a 4-5 vote in September.
Opponents were concerned about the costs associated with the proposed fees, especially on landowners looking to build a single home on their property.
“This impact fee, while well-intentioned, will impact those who can least afford it,” Hilo Councilman J Yoshimoto said at the time.
Impact fees generally are collected on all building permits, rather than just development permits and rezonings.
“I don’t think that’s a lot of money to do anything with,” Hoffmann said Monday, adding that it costs $3 million to build one mile of roadway. “It’s clear with the existing system, it’s an ineffective way to build our infrastructure.”
Last year, Hawaii County developers had pledged $105.7 million for infrastructure to accommodate population increases caused by their developments, but only $3 million had been spent, according to the 2010 annual report from the Planning Department. The 2010 fair share report emphasized that the developers’ $105.7 million pledge is not past due, because the developers are required to pay only after the project is built. In addition, the Planning Department adjusts the initial assessments based on the actual number of units and the consumer price index at the time of development.
Unlike previous years, the 2011 report doesn’t sum the assessments or provide a table showing how much each rezoning applicant has pledged and paid. Nor does it break out those assessments by geographical districts, providing percent change over the prior year and specifying whether the assessment is for fire, parks, police, roads or solid waste.
The portion of the county code requiring the annual report, Section 2-162.1, states that the report shall include, at minimum, “… the nature and extent of the assessments or exactions, and the method by which any undetermined assessments or exactions are to be determined, valued and applied; the deadlines and other timetables in which the assessments or exactions are to be determined and delivered or performed. …”
Planning director Bobby Jean Leithead Todd, who signed the report, didn’t return a message on her cellphone on Monday, which was a holiday.
ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com