Mayor’s requests like
that of entitled athlete
Mayor Kim will never have enough money. He is like the the professional athlete asking for more money. As reported in the paper, Mayor Harry Kim’s administration, with the concurrence of the County Council, has recently raised, or is in the process of raising, five different taxes and fees.
The mayor is asking for money from the state and the federal government. The excise tax just got raised a quarter percent and now he is asking for a much longer period and another quarter percent. He also wants to change the law so he does not have to spend the additions on transportation. This is an individual who ran for office saying he would not raise taxes.
The mayor is also scheming. He is trying to take the current allocation of the sewer expense from the general fund and make the properties with sewers pay these costs, plus additions for hiring 10 more sewer workers. The mayor also wants to reclassify some agriculture land as residential to gather more taxes for the general fund. This is justified by saying it is to make it fair.
Is it fair that second homes are taxed at 11.1 percent on the Big Island, way higher than Oahu or Maui? Is it fair that converting a cesspool to a sewer in Hilo or Puna is paid by the county, but in Kona it is to be paid by the property owners?
Mayor Kim says he has already cut the budget to the bare minimum with cost improvements. He says if his demands are not met he is going to cut services and lay off employees. Doesn’t this sound just like a professional athlete asking for more money? The mayor should list what cost improvements have been made under his administration. He should list what services will be cut if he does not get his way.
The mayor always tries to blame the increased costs on the state. Maybe some of the projects the mayor wants are not really needed. Let the public see a detailed project list instead of these vague requests for money. Why is that the Big Island and not all the islands want to raise the excise tax for other than transportation projects? Is Mayor Kim restoring your faith in government?
Michael Wilson
Captain Cook
Fence normal, fear tweets not so
In regards Jim Koubelg’s letter in the Feb. 2 paper, you are completely wrong. You must be listening to Trump’s ridiculous tweets, the liar in chief and commander of fake tweets!
There is a fence at the Obama’s house much like all the other neighbors have. There are actually photos of it if Mr. Koubelg would bother to do serious research. The fence and small guard house was installed by the Secret Service. The front of the house is open to the street.
Furthermore, what exactly do you mean by “they should clean up their own areas?” Really? That simple, huh?
Perhaps the letter writer should really think about what he is saying and yes, lots of people want to come to the U.S.A. What’s wrong with that? Does Mr. Koubelg think he was the first person to occupy the mainland? We absolutely need border patrol and we need immigration reform. We don’t need alarmists who listen to Trump’s “fake tweets” and fear mongering and think these are absolute truths.
Kathy Awai
Waikoloa
