COUNTY LOOKS TO PRESERVE ITS TAT SHARE

State May Withhold $17m In Hotel Taxes

The Hawaii County Council took a step Friday to fight the potential
loss of up to $17 million.

The council unanimously supported a resolution, to be sent to the
state Legislature and Gov. Linda Lingle, supporting continued funding
of the Transient Accomodations Tax revenues to the counties. Lingle
and legislators first threatened last year to keep the payments
typically made to each county -- for Hawaii County it would be about
$17 million this fiscal year -- from the TAT revenues collected.

"The Legislature, if this is their intention, they're basically
trying to do a bait and switch," Council Chairman J Yoshimoto, Hilo,
said. "They're taking this chunk of money away from us and saying,
here, county, you go increase the tax. It is just completely
illogical for the state to try to do this at this time. It's placing
a tremendous burden on all the counties."

Kohala Councilman Pete Hoffmann took issue with statements by state
legislators that the county had not done enough to cut its budget and
therefore did not deserve its TAT share. The state has not made major
cuts, he added.

"Basically, this county has adopted a conservative fiscal policy," he
said. "The county should not be penalized for a more sound and
conservative fiscal process."

Council members stuck with their earlier vote on a resolution asking
the state government to decriminalize marijuana, again voting it down
over the passionate objections of dozens of county residents.

"Marijuana is a mind-altering drug," Ka'u Councilman Guy Enriques
said. "It causes us to relax a little bit more. It makes us less
alert, less reactive. .. There is something that's not right about
marijuana. I don't want to be the leaders in marijuana."

Nearly 50 people testified Friday, either at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay
or by video teleconference from Hilo, on North Kona Councilman Kelly
Greenwell's resolution. More than half, at least 30, asked the
council members to support the resolution.

"This plant has a lot of use," Puna Councilwoman Emily Naeole-Beason
said. "It can be food, medicine, rope, fiber for materials, fuel. We
have criminalized many good people on our island."

She and Greenwell were the only council members to vote in favor of
the resolution.

Enriques asked his council colleagues to back away from a bill
imposing a 50-gallon per day limit on water drawn from 15 county
water spigots. Mayor Billy Kenoi's administration initiated the bill
earlier this year to cut down on abuse of the spigots, which are free
to be used by county residents. The bill had passed from the finance
committee with a positive recommendation, but public outcry prompted
Enriques to ask Kenoi to reconsider.

Kenoi on Thursday sent a letter to Enriques agreeing to form a task
force instead of moving forward with the bill.

The county pays for water drawn from the spigots. Residents in rural
areas without county water were concerned about the limit.

Council members voted down the measure.