Why grandfather in problem?
How does grandfathering in existing vacation rentals (WHT, Sept. 21) in residential/agricultural areas solve anything? The existing vacation rentals are the problem.
Craig Holland
Kailua-Kona
County robbing itself blind
Hawaii County collects its operating funds from property tax. Each tax map key number is a cash-cow. The County Council does a strange thing with 2.25 percent of that money. They chant “malama aina” and sacrifice a cash-cow.
The ceremony is called the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation Commission, or PONC. Then they chant “iwi kupuna” and hire their friends to watch over the property that was taken off the tax rolls. The council is slowly nationalizing private property and turning the Big Island into a retirement community for young people.
When will PONC reach its tipping point? What is the higher government purpose that this PONC land can be used for?
Jerry Warren
Naalehu
Bill 108 discriminates against honest people
There is a change in our laws under consideration, a change that has been in the works for several months. It goes under the name Bill 108.
Bill 108 has had several iterations, and is presently before the planning commission, who decided that it didn’t go far enough. So they tacked on a few additions and now it is going back to the council to be reconsidered.
Here is what Bill 108 is about: One way people make a living in our island economy is by making rooms available for visitors to stay overnight. There are parts of the island, like near Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, with few commercial rooms available. There are no resorts. Hundreds of people who travel to the park prefer to spend the night after a long day of hiking, and without private rooms available, they cannot.
Bill 108 would like to restrict those private rooms to sofas in people’s living rooms and the otherwise unused spare bedrooms. Is this the travel experience a family or two families traveling together looks for?
There is an idea afoot that vacation rental owners here avoid paying their taxes. This is an idea put out there by Airbnb, a popular platform that refuses to collect those taxes online, forcing owners to collect them off platform. This is awkward, but because Airbnb is the dominant platform here, homeowners put up with the situation. And pay their taxes.
There is an idea that casual visitors are noisier than residents. While this may be true in party houses in resort areas, that is not the overall experience on the east side of the island. Bill 108 seeks to address this supposed problem by insisting that property owners be available 24/7 and be able to show up at their property within three hours of a neighbor making a complaint, whether there are guests in the home or not. This effectively ties homeowners to their houses. The three hours is supposed to allow the homeowner to rush back from Costco in Kona for an east side rental complaint.
The way neighbors find out how to cause grief to the vacation rental owner is that to be legal under Bill 108, the homeowner must notify all the neighbors within hundreds of yards of the fact of their rental, and what to do if they don’t like it. Effectively, anyone who feels so inclined can put a neighbor out of business with a phone call.
Bill 108 somehow does not quite get to the matter of how to collect the taxes due — it only puts a fine system in place, not just for the taxes, but for any dereliction, like being out of cellphone range.
Bill 108 is a terrible, unconscionable, discriminatory piece of legislation that has grown more unwieldy and less desirable with every stroke of the pen. It is not about collecting taxes. It is about giving neighbors who complain the tools to keep people out of swimming pools because of noise.
Here is what we all can think about here. Why is the state telling any of us who can stay in our homes? How is it different to discriminate against families on vacation or just families? If I let my brother-in-law and sister stay in my cottage for two weeks, and my daughter and her son stay a week, and a couple on honeymoon stay three nights. and my friends from Kona stay a couple of days, what is the difference to the neighbors whether anyone pays or not?
Here is another thing to think about. Visitors are the lifeblood of our island. Here in East Hawaii, they sustain our restaurants. When they visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, do we want them jumping back in their cars and returning en masse to Kona in the dark of night, after cocktails and dinner? What sort of visitor experience do we want to offer people? Do we want to be hospitable or shall we chase our less well-heeled visitors off to other destinations?
Bill 108 is discriminatory. It will not bring tax money into the state coffers, but ruin the lives of hundreds of retirees who chose this island and support themselves through vacation rentals. Not huge investments in dozens of houses, but simply single cottages and condos.
Those in West Hawaii get to keep their condos on the short-term rental market. They are considered to be in resort zones. But those of us here on the east side, we, who have not lost our houses to the lava, stand now to lose them to Bill 108.
Recovery for our island economy is projected to take eight years. If the vacation rentals that bring visitors to East Hawaii are effectively done away with, this recovery will take far longer. Many are hurting here. You surely know people who are suffering huge downturns in business. Please, help us stop Bill 108. It will hurt way too many of us.
Gail Armand
Volcano