KIM: 'ICE' AND PROPERTY TAXES

Mayor Harry Kim said he came into office with a pledge that "politics" would
never play a role in his decisions.

Thursday he told a group of Kona business leaders his administration has yet
to break that promise, always choosing what is "right" for the people of the
Big Island - not for special interests.

The mayor was in West Hawaii to present his now annual state of the county
address to a joint meeting of the Kona - Kohala Chamber of Commerce and Kona
Rotary Club. In tow were a number of his appointed department chiefs who
also made short presentations.

"A promise was made about what we feel was right," said Kim, who chose to
speak more philosophically about Hawaii County's achievements rather than
present a laundry list of his accomplishments.

"Hopefully," Kim said, "when we leave here you can say we made decisions
without politics in mind."

The mayor did spend some time on two projects: Crystal methamphetamine
("ice") abuse and a rewrite of the county's property tax system.

The mayor said he is proud of Kona's response to the county's declaration of
war on ice.

"I spoke to a group in Hilo and told them they were the last to respond,"
Kim said. "The Kona community led the way for the rest of the island and I
sincerely thank you."

Police Chief Lawrence Mahuna added that ongoing operations, including the
seizure Wednesday of more than two pounds of crystal methamphetamine, have
made a significant impact on the distribution of the drug on the Big Island.

However, Mahuna asked the community, and especially parents, to help reduce
demand for the drug.

"If demand is not changed," Mahuna said, "we're spinning our wheels."

Kim said from his first day in office a priority of his administration has
been the revision of the county's property tax system.

It wasn't his intention to use the revision as a way to increase revenues,
Kim said. "People have asked me, 'what kind of spiel is that?'"

He said his intent is to make the system as fair as possible, and then to
distribute the resources as fairly as possible.

Finance Director William Takaba said raising property taxes is only the
first step toward tax equity.

"We are sympathetic to those who have lived here all their lives," said
Takaba. "We don't want to tax them out of their homes."

Takaba said the second step is to institute such things as "circuit
breakers," which base taxes upon the ability to pay, deferred taxes or
basing property taxes on valuation rather than flat amounts.

Kim also said he is working on reducing the time it takes for the county to
provide services to the community.

One example is building permits, which he said now take five to six weeks to
process.

He said the county should shortly be able to reduce the processing time to
three to five days.

The mayor said he is also proud of the agreement the county brokered with
Kennedy - Wilson Associates about the development of Kohanaiki.

After discussions with the county and community, the developer has agreed to
turn over much of the "Pine Trees" shoreline as a public park.

"Next year we'll show you something that we can brag about," Kim said. "It
will be something Kona can hold up to the rest of the world and say, 'this
is the damn way things should be done.'"