On Wednesday, Mayor Billy Kenoi came to Ocean View to discuss recent Hawai’i county budget proposal. He noted that real property tax for second home-owners, golf courses, and some agriculture structures will increase. The Mayor also outlined that programs supporting kids and elderly won’t be cut. Emergency services will be the same, vacant positons will not be filled, and retirement/pension plans will remain unchanged.

Overall, the budget plan seemed to be straight forward. I know funds are low and many projects and programs are being affected. Buses are still free. So, that’s good to me.

The issues of the unfinished water filling station and lack of transfer station were points of heated discussion.

Milton Pavao took time to explain the issues holding up the completion of the water well. He explained that the original plan had been changed, and didn’t fit with the EIS that had been in place. It seems like the water department is trying to work out a messed up situation. The OV Hawaii House Rep. recently issued an audit into Ocean View-Kahuku Water project.
Mr. Pavao did suggest that project would take another 12-15 month before construction continues on the water station.

Meeting attendees also expressed frustration over the delayed installation of a transfer station in Ocean View. The current delay appears to be in the recent property assesment for the proposed transfer station location. It seems that the appraisal has come in low, and the county can’t pay more than the appraised price. There was no estimated date for completion of the transfer station noted at the meeting. Follow up for this was requested.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 15th, 2010 at 4:57 pm and is filed under My Life In Hawai'i. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.