Mayoral candidate P. Denise La Costa talks about fiscal changes she wants to enact if elected, including a reduction in taxes. Gary Kubota/Maui News

Maui County mayoral candidate P. Denise La Costa wants to roll back taxes, including the fuel and motor vehicle registration fees, and freeze refuse and water fees if elected.

La Costa, a former Maui County Planning Commission chair, said she also will increase homeowner property tax exemptions.

Two other candidates in the mayoral race include incumbent Richard Bissen and Council Vice-Chair Yuki Lei Sugimura.

The deadline for filing as a candidate for office for mayor, council and other elected positions is 4:30 p.m. June 2. The primary election will be Aug. 8 and the general election is set for Nov. 3.

Speaking at her campaign office in the Kahului industrial area on Tuesday, La Costa criticized the Maui County Council, specifically Sugimura, for allowing a carry over savings of $200 million in the 2026-27 fiscal year.

La Costa called it “overtaxation.” She said that, according to a county council budget report, the county had more than 600 vacant positions.

“When the committee she chairs finds $200 million in carryover savings and calls it ‘profound concern,’ that is not a scandal she discovered. That is a scandal she presided over,” La Costa said.

La Costa said her cost-cutting plan would redirect salary appropriations on long-vacant positions to provide direct taxpayer relief until the positions are filled or eliminated.

A major portion of her campaign platform is also the repeal of Bill 9, which will phase out vacation rentals out of Maui’s apartment districts over the next three to five years.

Supporters of the bill say it will create more residential rentals, but La Costa contends the repeal of Bill 9 would preserve an estimated $61 million in county real property tax revenue.

She said Bill 9 needs to be repealed because of the damage it will do with a loss of jobs and a reduction in tax revenue.

“Most of the people who own short-term vacation rentals are just folks who bought them for an investment so they could come and retire here, or they could get a little bit of income to supplement their retirement,” she said. “They didn’t come here to get rich. They didn’t come here to steal land. They came here because they love Maui like we do, and that’s what needs to be understood. They have been vilified and they are not villains.”

La Costa, who was the Realtors Association of Maui’s 2021 Realtor-Broker of the Year, said she’s in favor of providing rental assistance for folks who aren’t ready to buy homes.

For more information about La Costa’s campaign, go to mayorlacosta2026.com.