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Please strengthen the 2% LAND FUND PROGRAM

Published by jalbertini on July 1st, 2019 in Social Justice, Take Action!.

Your support on this would be much appreciated.  Please forward to friends.

Jim

——– Forwarded Message ——–

Subject: Please strengthen the 2% LAND FUND PROGRAM
Date: Sun, 30 Jun 2019 14:26:56 -1000
From: Jim Albertini <ja@malu-aina.org>
To: aaron.chung@hawaiicounty.gov, valerie.poindexter@hawaiicounty.gov, ashley.kierkiewicz@hawaiicounty.gov, sue.leeloy@hawaiicounty.gov, karen.eoff@hawaiicounty.gov, matt.kanealii-kleinfelder@hawaiicounty.gov, maile.david@hawaiicounty.gov, tim.richards@hawaiicounty.gov, rebecca.villegas@hawaiicounty.gov, Charter.commission@hawaiicounty.gov

 

Dear Council and Commission members,

I support the efforts of Debbie Hecht to strengthen the 2% Land Fund Program.  Her details below are well thought out and make perfect sense to me.  We are blessed to have a citizen who has put so much volunteer energy into the 2% program that will help preserve land for generations to come.  Mahalo for your support of this effort.

With gratitude and aloha

Jim

— Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Kurtistown, Hawaii 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 email ja@malu-aina.org visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org sign up on our website to automatically receive our posts

Dear County Council members: 

 

The Charter Commission has helped to strengthen the 2% LAND FUND PROGRAM, but we need your help with 2 things not yet accomplished to strengthen the 2% Land Fund Program:

  1. Make changes to Charter Amendment-9 deals with ONE full time employee to work ONLY on the 2% Land Fund Program.
  2. Make changes to Charter Amendment 18- deals with the Maintenance Fund and allows the non-profit stewardship groups to pay people who work on the land.

 

CA-9 ONE PERSON PAID FROM THE 2% LAND FUND TO WORK ONLY ON THE LAND FUND.

Black print is what the Charter commission is proposing.  The RED Additions are what we would like to see included in the language:

 

CA-9:  3) “Pay for the salary, wages and benefits of one full-time staff member, employed by the Department of Finance dedicated only to advancing administering the activities contained within this section and Section 10-16 of this charter.  This is in addition to a staff person provided for in the Hawaii County Code to assist the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Commission”

 

This seems like a simple matter.  We are asking for the red clarifying language.  Otherwise WE WILL RUN A JUST SAY NO CAMPAIGN. WHY?

 

 It sounds good but the word “staff” is ambiguous, would the 2% Land Fund pay for only one position or 3 or 5 or more?  The 2% Land Fund  could end up funding multiple staff positions, which will reduce the purchasing power of the 2% Land Fund.  This is NOT what we voted for. Remember, 2% of our property taxes are only $5 million per year, which is 1.5% of the income into the county and it adjusts according to property values in times of recession.  $5 million per year can only buy one or two properties.

THE LAND FUND IS NOT WORKING AS WELL AS IT SHOULD and WHY we need ONE full time person to work ONLY on the Land Fund Program: 

  1. There is $22 million sitting in the fund, no land has been purchased since May 2018
  2. There have been almost 200 properties proposed by citizens for purchase.
  3. Only 14 properties have been acquired in 14 years.
  4. Only 1/3 of the money spent to purchase land has been in matching funds at least 50% should be in matching funds to maximize the most important potential of an existing land fund.
  5. Only 9% of the money deposited in the Maintenance Fund has been received by the non-profits
  6. HOW CAN WE DO BETTER? 
  • BY HIRING ONE FULL TIME PERSON TO WORK ONLY ON THE 2% LAND FUND PROGRAM and
  • BY ALLOWING THE STEWARDSHIP GROUPS TO PAY PEOPLE TO WORK ON THE LAND. 

 

Since October the Save our Land’s Citizen’s Committee has proposed that the Department of Finance use part of the 2% Land Fund money to pay ONE person to work ONLY On the Land Fund because more than one salary wages and benefits for a highly qualified person with law or real estate conservation experience would equal $100,000. This is in addition to the staff provided by the Hawaii County Code to assist the PONC commission.   See the 2 staff positions that are necessary to run the 2% land Fund Program.  We have an opportunity to strengthen the 2% Land Fund Program IF there is someone doing the work.  An real estate person or attorney qualified in conservation land acquisitions would be able to negotiation more land purchases, acquire more matching funds and help the stewardship non- profit groups obtain more grant funding.    This from the County of Hawaii HR department for the 2 staff positions that are necessary.  The first would be paid by the 2% Land Fund and the second is already paid to support the PONC commission as per the County Code.

  •    Real estate deals are time sensitive, they are deadlines for appraisals, endangered species studies, historical research, title searches and land surveys.  It takes time to research available matching funds and write the grants to gain these funds.
  • Conservation land deals require willing sellers.  Willing sellers want to be paid as soon as possible because the taxes keep accruing and they may have a use for the money.
  • ·A full time staff person can assist the non-profits with getting the funding they need to care for the 2% Lands.  The Maintenance Fund grants have been granted to only 6 organizations in the 6-year existence of the fund.  The stewardship non-profit groups have received only 9% of all the money deposited in the Maintenance Fund from 2013.  Stewardship groups say the process has been very difficult and they have had to apply several times before receiving funding.

  CA-18- should ALLOW NON-PROFITS TO PAY PEOPLE TO WORK ON THE LAND.

(This does not mean we pay board members for being board members) 

  •  ALL OF THE NON-PROFITS TESTIFIED THAT THEY NEEDED TO BE ABLE TO PAY PEOPLE TO WORK ON THE LAND.  ONLY 6 GROUPS HAVE RECEIVED A MERE 9% OF THE MONEY DEPOSITED IN THE FUND SINCE 2013.  The County has used the rest.
  • There is a safety, a check and balance built into this system. THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND THE Public access, open space and natural resources commission HAVE TO APPROVE THEIR STEWARDSHIP GRANT PROPOSAL. IF THEY VIOLATE THIS THEY WILL NEVER BE ALLOWED TO APPLY FOR GRANTS IN THE FUTURE.  

HERE IS OUR PREFERRED LANGUAGE: black is what is proposed by the Charter Commission, our proposed changes are in red:

 

[(5)](6) No officer, board member, or employee of the 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization or the organization that operates under the umbrella of a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization shall receive a salary or payment for labor or receive any reimbursement for the stewardship work on the project, unless they are paid for duties that are part of the approved Stewardship Grant proposal. The 501(c)3 nonprofit shall sign an agreement so stating these conditions and submit it with the application.

MAHALO!

Your name

_______________________________________________________________________________

SINCE OCTOBER AT THE CHARTER COMMISSION:  There were 371 people that sent in email testimony on CA-7, CA-8, CA-13 and CA-27.  I counted each communication.  There were at least 20 people that took time out of their days to attend each of the 10 charter commission meetings and testify in person that is 200 people.  These people represent the 63% of the voting public that voted 3 times to support the Land Fund Program.  There were only 2 people that testified against the 2% Land Fund Program: Mayor Harry Kim and Council Chair Aaron Chung.

 

FOR YOUR INFORMATION:

BACKGROUND AND HISTORY.  The SAVE OUR LANDS CITIZENS COMMITTEE HAS RUN THE 3 CAMPAIGNS AND IS POISED TO RUN A 4TH CAMPAIGN FOR NOVEMBER OF 2020- Each time the Land Fund was on the ballot- 63% of voters have voted 3 times to support the land fund.  We believe that the aina is the foundation for our tourist industry, which is the biggest employer on the island.  If we don’t preserve the beautiful places and our ocean shores why would people come here?  They could go to Waikiki and go shopping and snorkel on a dead reef.

 

I wrote the existing legislation with Council member Brenda Ford that is in the Hawaii County Code and the Hawaii County Charter.  I was appointed by Mayor Kenoi to serve on the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Commission.   We learned that the government would not purchase open space and parklands. So we took the extraordinary measure to run a petition initiative drive and collected 9,600 signatures to first get the measure on the Ballot. 63% of voters approved the measure.  Then Mayor Kenoi and the Council suspended deposits to the fund for 2 years.  We took the next extraordinary measure to move the 2% Land Fund to the charter where it could only be undone by a vote of the people.   That is why we took the huge step of setting aside 2% of property taxes each year to purchase open space.  THAT is the only reason why over 4,400 acres have been purchased and 2,200 acres will be added soon.  Remember, only $5 to $6 million dollars is added to the 2% Land Fund each year.  That is 2% of property taxes, but that amount is only 1.5% of the total income stream for the County of Hawaii. That is only $5 million per year, which means one maybe 2 properties that could be purchased each year.   There is $700,000 added to the Maintenance Fund each year.  I believe that if 63% of people vote 3 times to support a program that vote should be honored.  I have also been running my own business for 40 years and 1.5% of a budget is a small amount.

 

Please call with questions or suggestions.  The actual proposed changes for CA-9 and CA-18 are attached, so you can read it to see the actual changes in the Charter.

You can go to https://debbiehecht.com/2019/01/15/2-land-fund-program-at-the-charter-commission-as-of-january-142019/ for more information.

 

Mahalo for your efforts to save our treasured lands on Hawaii Island.

Debbie Hecht

808-989-3222

Hecht.deb@gmail.com

Website:  Ramblings, Thoughts and Theories:  www.debbiehecht.com

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