Oahu's Best Homes Blog

HONOLULU — The tax bill for some landowners may increase slightly if the Honolulu city council keeps tax rate at the current level.

The city sent out property tax assessments this week.

The latest valuation shows all taxable real estate on Oahu increased one percent.

The city points to new developments and improvements to existing properties as the reason for the bump.

The assessments in the following areas went up : East Honolulu, the North Shore, Urban Honolulu and central Oahu and Salt Lake.

The assessments in the following neighborhoods went down: Leeward and Windward Oahu as well as Kaaawa to Kahaluu.

If the city council keeps the tax rate the same, some homeowners will see a slight increase in their tax bill.

Budget chair Ann Kobayashi doesn’t want to raise the rate.

“It’s a bad time to increase property tax. We are increasing sewer fees water fees, electricity fees are going up. We just can’t hit the taxpayers anymore,” Kobayashi said.

But the bigger question is whether the council will overhaul the real property tax system as recommended by an advisory commission last week.

In particular, the exemptions for non-profits and other organizations.

“If there is an ability to pay, let’s look at that. It’s hard for the city because we don’t have the income information. That goes to the state,” said Kobayashi.

One example is Kamehameha schools which has billions of dollars of assets but gets the same exemption as a struggling non-profit.

“They pay $300 for that huge campus and there are organizations, non- profits like ARC, that helps retarded people. They have 10-15 homes are we going to charge them more property tax?” said Kobayashi. “Do we keep giving all these organizations exemptions who have them now. How do we make it fair?”

Another exemption for historic homes is under scrutiny.

The city has begun tightening up criteria in order to get the tax break on historic properties, but the commission still suggests those homeowners pay more of their share.

The city said hotel and resort properties increased 2.7 percent.

Commercial property values jumped 4.4 percent. Industrial property decreased a half percent.

Read more: http://www.kitv.com/news/30010794/detail.html#ixzz1gjgRjQYV