Assets and taxes Assets and taxes ADVERTISING Comparing geothermal Campaign season is in full swing and there are those with small campaign budgets but huge egos demonizing those with the larger budgets, denying the fact maybe those who have donated
Assets and taxes
Comparing geothermal
Campaign season is in full swing and there are those with small campaign budgets but huge egos demonizing those with the larger budgets, denying the fact maybe those who have donated to the fund did so because of their common philosophical beliefs with the candidate instead of “payoff” benefits. However, to compensate for the difference in campaign funding, some have chosen to promote legislation that would win over the hearts of the beneficiaries, while appearing to be humble servants.
The geothermal fund written about in the June 16 edition of the WHT is a good example. Accessible geothermal possibilities are an asset to one of the nine districts on this island which happens to be the Puna District. Districts such as the North Kona and the Kohala have other assets that are being exploited but with different results.
In its formative years, geothermal went through a difficult permitting process with radical demonstrations demanding more from the developer than any other development. Royalties from the profits were promised to be set aside for the benefit of those that were sure to be affected negatively by the escaping poisons from the well.
Property values surrounding the well plummeted and those who claimed to be negatively impacted by health issues were offered the opportunity to move. Some did, paid for by the geothermal fund created for that reason. Obviously, the negative effect of the geothermal plant has not been so great it has kept the fund depleted; it remains with over $2 million in reserve.
By comparison, the assets in West Hawaii, being the sunny sandy beaches, have brought an invasion of hotels and people to the areas with limited access to the beaches by the locals, who previously had total access. The result is our property taxes have gone up and the high property taxes paid by the hotels go into the general fund to support the island as a whole, without any royalties being withheld to benefit the displaced, inconvenienced residents. Some property taxes supplement buses that transport workers from Puna to their jobs at the same hotels that inconvenience us on the sunny beaches in West Hawaii.
Would it not be more equitable if some west side council member proposed the geothermal fund be utilized to pay for the buses to transport the Puna workers to their jobs in West Hawaii instead of the present setup? The proposal Dominic Yagong makes will offer 10 $2,500 college scholarships to applicants from lower Puna, while we in West Hawaii carry the bulk of the county tax burden — plus receive no benefit (scholarships for our children) from being denied total beach access. It can be said the fault is ours because we didn’t demand it from the beginning. But again, if given the choice, would we choose to be bused to our jobs in Puna? We made the right choice to allow the hotel developments, but it seems those who rant, rave and demand get more benefits. Or, is this just a political effort by Yagong to acquire more votes from the Puna residents?
I couldn’t think of a way to include the West Hawaii landfill as an asset, but it must fit in there somewhere.
Leningrad Elarionoff
Waimea
