In the election on Nov. 7, you’ll be voting for candidates at the national, state and county level, but it’s not all about the office-seekers. You will also have to make decisions about amendments to both the Maui County Charter and to the Constitution of the State of Hawai‘i.
Local first. We’ll make time for the constitutional questions before Nov. 7. Here’s a little help with the amendments to the Maui County Charter.
The most famous charter amendment of 2006 is certainly the proposal to overhaul the county’s system of real property tax assessments. The good news or bad news, depending how you feel about the specific tax plan, is that this amendment did not collect enough signatures quickly enough to make it onto the ballot.
For each of the following three amendments you will be asked to vote “yes” or “no.” The proposed amendments will be stated as questions.
Ballot Question #1: Should the Department of Public Works and Environmental Management be divided to form two separate departments, a Department of Public Works and a Department of Environmental Management, and should the provisions of the Charter be modified by non-substantive “housekeeping” measures related to this amendment?
Let’s get that last phrase out of the way immediately. Where the questions asks, “and should the provisions of the Charter be modified by non-substantive ‘housekeeping’ measures related to this amendment?” it is nothing to worry about. It means that the County Charter will be adjusted as needed to reflect the change if the measure is passed. It is a question of editing, not a matter of changing laws or regulations.
The main question is fairly simple. Although I wouldn’t tell you here which way to vote, I will tell you how I will vote and why. I will vote “yes” because too much of the county budget is under a single director, and too many county employees are, too. I wouldn’t normally tell anyone, even live and in person, who I’d really vote for. I have a habit of perpetrating fantasy ballots to gather information. I’ll tell one group of people I’ll vote for A, M and X; and tell another I’ll vote for B, N and Y. Along the way, I get to find out how real people out in the world are thinking about every candidate. But, on these questions, I am telling you the truest truth possible. I’m not asking you to “vote with me,” but it takes a lot less space to say how I’d vote and why than to go into the details of both sides of an argument.
Ballot Question #2: Should a minimum of 2 percent of the certified real property tax revenue for fiscal years 2008 through 2011 be appropriated into an affordable housing fund to be used for the provision and expansion of affordable housing and suitable living environments for persons of very low to moderate income?
While I am of the opinion that this could have been passed as simple legislation, I understand some of the reasons for presenting it, instead, as a charter amendment. Done this way, the fund is not (so) open to court challenges. On the other hand, how could anyone in his right mind challenge the need to establish a fund that will help people get into homes when the common alternative is that they leave Maui and Hawai‘i? You guessed it, I’m voting “yes.” I probably don’t earn enough to qualify even at the bottom of the lowest range to be permitted to buy an affordable home, but those who do—or almost do—deserve this help. It is important to realize that this 2 percent set-aside is not a new tax. It is not an increase in taxes. It will not go on and on forever.
Ballot Question #3: Should the Charter provision relating to the filing of personal injury and property damage claims against the County of Maui be changed so as to require that notices of claims be filed “within the time period as provided by law” instead of within two years after the date of injury, to conform to controlling State law, which currently provides for a period of six months?
We should all vote “yes” on this one because it really is a housekeeping question. The law of the State of Hawai‘i is actually, as stated, the controlling law. Having an incorrect and misleading legal statement on the books in Maui doesn’t change anything. We just need to accept that the law is the law. Besides, if it takes you more than six months after the end of an injury to notice that you’ve been injured… well, you have bigger problems than the injury that was possibly caused by the County of Maui.
Vote, dammit! Just takes a few minutes, so do it.