Council to consider 10 cent gas tax reduction: Decrease from 23 cents to 13 cents on Tuesday Finance Committee agenda

A County Council panel is poised to take into consideration a resolution aimed at getting some of the sting out of rising fuel prices.

The council Finance Committee is scheduled Tuesday to acquire up Resolution 363, lopping 10 cents per gallon off the recent 23 cents for every gallon county tax.

Hawaii County’s typical retail value for common unleaded gas topped $5.35 a gallon on Thursday and the statewide average was $5.197, the best recorded, according to the AAA fuel costs web page. Fuel prices started rising right after Russian invaded Ukraine in February.

“I’m listening to men and women say they have to select among likely to the grocery retail outlet and heading to get the job done,” Puna Councilman Matt Kanealii-Kleinfelder, the sponsor of the resolution, reported Thursday. “As a modest business enterprise proprietor, as Finance Committee chair, our accountability as a taxing overall body is to reduce taxes when we can for our inhabitants.”

Kanealii-Kleinfelder explained the county has dollars from other sources to address the shortfall. Residence values have enhanced by about 13%, adding $45.4 million to the report large $689.9 million proposed spending budget Mayor Mitch Roth unveiled last month.

A recovering tourism economy is contributing to a standard excise tax surcharge account of $50 million, a $12.5 million, or 33.3% improve above this year.

“The condition has a has a surplus $1 billion. … We have found an maximize in home values,” Kanealii-Kleinfelder claimed. “This is a single of the issues we can do to make the charge of residing more very affordable for our people.”

The fuel tax was 8.8 cents a gallon right up until 2017, when the County Council voted to raise it incrementally to its current 23 cents, the greatest charge in the point out for a county with by significantly the most miles of roadway. The county tax is in addition to 18 cents per gallon in federal tax and 16 cents in condition tax.

Can the county manage a tax minimize? Kanealii-Kleinfelder stated Finance Director Deanna Sako was “my 1st telephone get in touch with,” before filing the resolution. He reported, “she didn’t like it, but she’d consider it.”

Sako, contacted Thursday, mentioned it’s a balancing act. Fuel tax revenue is applied for roads, whilst Mass Transit projects recently have been tapping into the basic excise tax and grants to enhance its Hele-On bus system. She reported the proposal would choose about $7.5 million annually from county coffers, impacting operations for highway routine maintenance and targeted traffic products and services, when preserving motorists about $1 or $2 for every fill-up.

”We are nonetheless reviewing the resolution and contemplating all of the impacts,” Sako explained. “We do comprehend that lots of individuals are having difficulties appropriate now with the a variety of increases in costs, but many folks are also complaining about the issue of our roads.”

The council Finance Committee satisfies at 2 p.m. Tuesday in council chambers in the county constructing in Hilo. For the very first time in numerous months, the pandemic protocols have been loosened to allow in-man or woman testimony. The community can testify in Hilo, or the Kona, Waimea and Pahoa council offices.

Remote testimony is also out there. To deliver oral testimony by means of Zoom: e-mail [email protected] or call (808) 961-8255 to total the registration procedure by noon, Monday.