The Hawaii County Council rejected impact fee legislation yet again. The Conservative Forum for Hawaii‘s opposition likely swayed certain key council (e.g Angel Pilago and Dominic Yagong) members to vote against this proposal.

I criticized their position via e-mail, which I sent on Friday.

Aloha,

Your last e-mail regarding the proposed impact fees legislation didn’t make any sense. Cutting the county budget won’t pay for infrastructure improvements. For example, impact fees would’ve covered the cost of the La’aloa Avenue Extension. However, the county has to float bonds to pay for this roadway instead.

The Conservative Forum for Hawaii was strongly against the 56 million bond float, which funded this roadway project. So, your group’s positions don’t make any sense. Nevertheless, it is pretty clear the Conservative Forum for Hawaii wants the county to:

1. Continue the ineffective (and illegal) fair share system
2. Continue floating bonds for infrastructure projects.

The taxpayers of this county shouldn’t have to absorb the cost of mitigating impacts from these developments. Enacting an impact fee ordinance would’ve leveled the playing field.

Sincerely,

Aaron Stene

The Conservative Forum for Hawaii never directly responded to my e-mail. They only sent me a banner, which thanked the council members who voted against this legislation.

Update: A member of this group replied to my e-mail on Sunday expressing the group’s interest to discuss this issue with me. This same individual e-mailed me this rebuttal later on, which I posted below:

“Aloha Aaron,

I have no issue with your opinion whatsoever. The issue at hand, and the one addressed by the Conservative Forum, is not ‘fair share’. It is the continuing efforts by lawmakers to impinge on the rights of individuals by passing oppressive and odious ordinances and continuing to act, as they have done since statehood and before, to saddle individuals with ridiculous laws – which should not be their job – and to act in completely illegal ways. A prime example is the letting of contracts which are written so that only one of the bidders can qualify.

The County Council is our first line of government. They need to learn that the old ways, and by that I mean by way of favors and bribes, are not appropriate.

Hawaii is already the least user-friendly state for business in the entire country. It is rapidly becoming the least resident-friendly as well. That situation exists because our government pays no attention to referendum issues. You pointed out thecounty charter amendment requiring the county to use 2 percent of property tax revenues to buy land for public access or open space. We voted on that and the county ignored the vote.

The issue at hand is not that the Conservative Forum is in any way promoting any illegal system or suggesting that the county continue to float bonds for infrastructure projects. You suggestion that “It is pretty clear” that the CF ‘wants’ those things is erroneous and, in fact, a cheap shot not based in fact.

The Conservative Forum wants the Council to recognize who they represent and to represent the voters fairly. We intend to strongly disagree with any Council action which further burdens the voters of this county. If it happens that the burden is piggybacked to something that might be a good idea, and this particular measure was NOT a good idea, we shall oppose it for the simple reason that it does not do the ONE THING the Council is supposed to do: Make life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness of the CITIZENS easier.

The local government on this state has been completely out of control since inception, as you must certainly agree. Our intent is not to keep re-electing people who have the same mind-set as the ‘business-as-usual’ gang. We intend to, and ARE, building a citizen coalition that makes a difference. And that difference has to begin by calling out the Council on their egregious actions and holding them to account.

We no longer have enough money in this county to support the hundreds of employees Billy Kenoi hired when he was the Executive Assistant to Harry Kim. We are not going to stand idly by while the voters are taxed and penalized for excesses which should never been allowed. Hiring companies owned by department heads immediately comes to mind, but so does almost everything else the county does. That needs to stop.

Passing resolutions which do more harm than good does not help. Making accusations about the Conservative Forum that are incorrect and uninformed at best and malicious at worst – especially since you make position statements that are not our position, are part of the problem, not part of the solution. The problem is our local government, not the Conservative Forum. Your argument is erroneous. It misses the point entirely.”