Honolulu council overrides Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s veto of a $70 property tax break

The Honolulu City Council voted 9-0 Tuesday to override Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s veto of a bill to lower by $70 a year the property taxes of homeowners who live in their houses.

Bill 3 provides the break through an increase in homeowner exemptions that are available only on properties occupied by the owner. Councilwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi introduced the bill and pointed out that it’s the first time homeowner exemptions are being increased since 2006, when the average home cost significantly less than it does today.

“You cannot disagree that there are some very serious challenges that our residents face,” Tsuneyoshi said.

Caldwell vetoed the bill May 3, arguing that it would result in the loss of an estimated $10.3 million in annual revenue that would help balance the city’s $2.8 billion budget.

He urged Council members to instead convene a new property tax advisory commission to evaluate the entire property tax system.

The Council initially voted 9-0 to pass the bill and six votes were needed to override, so Caldwell faced an uphill battle in trying to stave off a rejection of his veto.

Council members were resounding in their decision.

Councilman Tommy Waters said his parents and all five of his siblings moved away because they can’t afford to stay in Hawaii. His parents spent their final years and died in the continental United States, he said. “My dad’s Hawaiian — he was born and raised here.”

Waters said he would have liked to have seen a larger exemption given to seniors.

“There are a lot of people out there hurting,” he said. “If we have an opportunity to give money back, even if it’s $70, our cost of living keeps going up and this is a small way of saying we care.”

Council Budget Chairman Joey Manahan said it would have been preferable to consider the exemption as part of an overall review by a review commission that looked at providing more relief for those homeowners most in need of it.

The owner of a $13 million to $14 million house will get the same exemption as the owner of a $500,000 home, he said.

Tsuneyoshi said she supports re-establishing a tax review commission but didn’t think the tax break needed to be held up until then.

Given that the city receives more than $2 billion in property taxes annually, “we’re just looking to give back $10 million annually to the residents,” she said.

The bill raises the standard home exemption, eligible on properties where the owner is also the occupant, to $100,000 from the current $80,000.

If the homeowner tax rate remains at $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, the owner­-occupant of a house assessed at $880,000 will pay the tax on $780,000 of value, resulting in a tax bill of $2,730 rather than $2,800.

Those homeowners 65 and older receive higher exemptions. They will receive the same break under the new law.