Toilets leave foul impression for tourists
Hawaii depends for its economic vitality on tourists. Our parks must be inviting.
Hikers and beach visitors who happen to stop at the west side park facilities that my wife and I try to enjoy will probably be shocked and disgusted at what they find at Mahukona (portable toilets close to overflowing), Kapaa (toilets at the pavilion locked due to lack of water), etc.
Hawaii County officials better pay much closer attention before tourism social media passes the word and a drop-off in visitors occurs.
Alex Latil
Kailua-Kona
Missed money opportunity
As the county debt grows, too bad the administration was not smart or aggressive enough to go after the many vacation rentals that pay no taxes. You might see that debt graph go down.
Who knows, they might have gotten enough to even be able to lower taxes and maybe give themselves another big raise. But alas, that isn’t happening.
Vicky Halquist
Kailua-Kona
Who’s this Harry?
Do you remember the fellow who won the last election for mayor? Harry Kim? He told us that he had carefully reviewed the county’s budget and revenues, and was confident the county was adequately funded. Since he’d already served a couple terms as mayor, that sounded reassuring. I voted for him. Whatever happened to that guy?
The man now occupying the office just can’t be the same man, can he? In a little over two years, the county is imposing not one but two hikes of the GET. Our property taxes have been bumped for some property categories, and the tax inflates annually even for our primary residences. Our vehicle fees are up. We are going to get zapped with higher gas taxes. Water and sewer fees are going up. Has the mayor missed any fees or taxes that might be raised?
And that’s not all. Now the guy in the mayor’s office wants license to spend the GET surcharges for purposes not related to transportation, as the state Legislature currently requires. I guess that must mean our roads, bridges and transit agency are all in tip-top form. Right? Just like all our water wells are up and running, too. Oh, wait. That hasn’t happened, either, has it?
Residents of Hawaii (according to WalletHub) pay a greater percentage of their income (11.57 percent!) in state and local taxes and fees than any state not named New York. At some point, Big Island residents need to insist that the level of services provided is fair compensation for the taxes and fees being extracted from us. If we could just find the gentleman who ran for mayor in 2016, we could talk to him about it.
Daniel Knox
Kailua-Kona