On June 7, The Maui News reported that the council will raise rates, fees and bus fares and will lower the homeowner exemption from $300,000 to $200,000, which, of course, will mean more of our money going to the county.
In that article, it was also reported that the council trimmed the mayor's budget by $8.3 million.
Remembering that the charter requires the mayor to submit a balanced budget, and assuming this requirement falls on the council as well, how did the council raise revenue and lower expenditures and still meet the requirement of a balanced budget?
Assuming that both budgets are balanced, it seems to me that if the council started with the mayor's proposal the homeowner would pay less property taxes and users of county services would pay lower fees. And if the council's expenditure plans were adopted, we would need $8.3 million less and thus be able to lower the tax rates and fees by $8.3 million.
How about that as a plan?
Ken Taira
Haiku
