A major Hawaii landowner has contributed $2 million to the local affiliate of a national nonprofit that helps preserve land from development.
Edmund C. Olson made the gift to the Trust for Public Land as an endowment to fund the nonprofit’s Hawaii director position.
Lea Hong, the trust’s Hawaii director for the past decade, thanked Olson for the contribution. “Ed loves the land or aina that sustains us,” she said in a statement.
Olson has been involved with the nonprofit for more than a decade. He donated money that assisted with purchasing and protecting Honuapo Fishpond and Estuary next to Whittington Beach Park on Hawaii island and joined the trust’s board in 2006. He also donated conservation easements dedicating thousands of acres of land he owns on Hawaii island and Oahu for agriculture or conservation.
Hawaii among lowest for property taxes
Hawaii ranked as the 18th least expensive state for paying residential property taxes, according to an analysis by personal finance information company Wallet Hub.
The company said the median property tax bill for Hawaii homeowners is $1,405 this year.
Seventeen other states had lower median bills. The lowest was $538 in Alabama. The highest was $7,335 in New Jersey.
The calculations were based on the amount of property taxes paid on the median sale price for homes in each state. The median is a figure in which half the sales were at a higher price and half at a lower price. The median price in Hawaii was the highest for any state at $504,500.
If homebuyers in Hawaii paid the median price for homes nationally, $175,700, they would pay the lowest property tax of any state, or $489, based on property tax rates that are calculated based on home values, the Wallet Hub study said.
Health law fines double for many uninsured
WASHINGTON >> Many people who went without health insurance last year are now seeing fines more than double under President Barack Obama’s health care law, tax preparation company H&R Block said Tuesday.
Among its customers who owe a penalty for the 2015 tax year, the average fine is $383, compared with $172 for 2014, the company said.
Separately, among those who complied with the law and took advantage of its taxpayer-subsidized private health insurance, 6 in 10 are now having to pay back to the IRS some portion of their financial assistance.
Rise in renters hits suburbs, study shows
NEW YORK >> In the American imagination, suburbs are places to buy a house and put down roots. But a growing percentage of suburbanites rent, according to a new study.
About 29 percent of metropolitan-area suburbanites were renters in 2014, up from 23 percent in 2006, according to a report released Tuesday by New York University’s Furman Center real estate think tank and the bank Capital One.
Some lenders see another refinancing wave
With U.S. mortgage rates near their lowest level since April and showing signs of falling further, some lenders are preparing for another refinancing wave, an unexpected development after the Federal Reserve began hiking short-term interest rates in December.
Borrowing costs on home loans, which are closely linked to longer-term bond yields, could fall after U.S. Treasury prices jumped on Tuesday. Last week, a 30-year mortgage cost 3.64 percent, up a touch from the week before but down 0.37 percentage point from the end of last year.
Chevron cuts budget amid low oil prices
NEW YORK >> Chevron is cutting its spending budget by nearly 40 percent for 2017 and 2018, a bigger cut in spending than it previously expected, as it deals with plunging oil prices.
The oil and gas company said it expects to spend between $17 billion and $22 billion on drilling and other projects in 2017 and 2018, lower than the $20 billion to $24 billion range the company had expected in October. The company has a spending budget of $26.6 billion this year, down 24 percent from the year before.
“Industry conditions are tough right now,” said Chevron Chairman and CEO John Watson, in a statement Tuesday.
On the Move
First Hawaiian Bank has announced the following promotions:
>> Lisa A. Tomihama has been promoted to senior vice president and team leader from vice president and team leader of the main banking region. She joined the bank as a vice president in 2006 in the corporate banking division.
>> Jeffrey S. Ventura has been promoted to senior vice president and area manager from vice president and area manager of the Kalihi branch. He has more than 24 years of banking experience and joined FHB as a management trainee in 1992.
>> Eliza E. Young has been promoted to senior vice president and manager from vice president of the credit department. She has more than 26 years of financial services experience and joined FHB as a credit analyst in 1990.
