honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Monday, May 24, 2010

Council committee advances $1.82 billion city budget


By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser Staff Writer

Non-occupant homeowners would pay less in property taxes than proposed by Mayor Mufi Hannemann, but at a higher rate than they're paying now, under a budget plan passed by the City Council Budget Committee Monday.

The full council now takes up the $1.82 billion city operating budget and other components of the budget plan on June 9.

Non-occupant homeowners, who belong in the so-called "non-homeowner" tax classification, would pay $3.58 per $1,000 of assessed value under the plan. That's less than the $3.72 that Hannemann had proposed in March, but more than the $3.42 they now pay.

The tax rates for all other classifications would stay the same as this year, including the "homeowner" (owner-occupant) class, which would continue to pay $3.42.

Budget Director Rix Mauer III said after the meeting that because of lower property values islandwide, the average property owner would see a drop in taxes, including the non-occupant homeowners.

For example, Maurer said, an owner-occupant family of a home valued at $600,000 this year would pay $160 less next year, while non-occupant homeowners would pay $70 less.