Question: Regarding the new agricultural grants, is it first-come, first-served?
Answer: No. “Agriculture Grants will be awarded in December, not on a rolling basis. We encourage small farmers and ranchers to apply when they feel they have a strong application, as long as applications are submitted before Oct. 20 at 10 a.m.,” said Patrick Williams, spokesperson for Honolulu’s Office of Economic Revitalization.
Applications will be available at oahuaggrants.org starting Monday at noon and for nearly six weeks thereafter. Sixty grants of up to $50,000 each will be awarded in 2022, triple the number mentioned in May, for a total of $3 million in funding this year.
“The increased number of grants made available this year will help meet the immediate need in the agricultural community. The Blangiardi administration has continued having many conversations with farmers and ranchers about their needs since the grants were first announced,” Williams said.
To qualify, an agriculture producer must be based on Oahu; have been in business by March 13, 2020; be able to document financial harm from the pandemic; and be compliant with the Internal Revenue Service, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Department of Taxation.
The program, designed to assist small farmers, ranchers and growers, relies on pandemic-era federal funding. Help with applications is available:
>> On Wednesday from 3 to 4 p.m., the city will livestream a webinar about the grant applications on the Office of Economic Revitalization Facebook page, facebook.com/oer.honolulu. No Facebook account is needed to watch the webinar, which also will be recorded for later viewing.
>> Applications will be available in several languages, including Hawaiian, Samoan, Tongan, Ilocano, Lao, Thai and Cantonese. In-person application events with interpreters are planned. Applicants may sign up for an agriculture workshop at oahuaggrants.org and select their preferred date, time, location and language.
In May, the city had said the program would fund 20 grants a year for three years, totalling $3 million over that period. At that time, applications were expected to go live in June. However, it took time to ensure the program complied with federal rules and reporting requirements, which were updated in June and again in late July, Williams said. More grants will be awarded in 2023 and 2024 if funding is available, he said.
Q: Auwe! They’ve known about the tax rebate for months. Now they say there’s no paper? How did this happen?
A: You are one of numerous readers dismayed by Gov. David Ige’s announcement Tuesday that Act 115 rebates may be delayed for people receiving paper checks because the state does not have enough check stock on hand.
Of about 600,000 Hawaii taxpayers scheduled to receive rebates so far, 303,000 are to receive an electronic direct deposit because the state has their financial account information on file, and 295,000 are to be mailed a paper check, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
Most of those getting direct deposits should receive their money by the end of the day Tuesday, but those receiving paper checks may not get them until the end of October or later because of a shortage of check stock, the news release said. Ige cited a supply-chain problem when discussing the matter Tuesday.
Readers who’ve complained to Kokua Line said the state should have planned better, knowing that a tax rebate was in the works from the beginning of the legislative session. Some said they felt as though they were being punished for not giving the tax department their bank account number for privacy reasons when they filed their 2021 Hawaii income tax return. We shared these concerns with the governor’s office and asked for a fuller explanation of the supply-chain problem and whether the state had made it a priority to order check stock. We received the following reply from the Department of Accounting and General Services:
“The procurement for check stock, envelopes and services was awarded in June immediately following the enactment of Act 115. The earliest estimate the vendor could provide material and services is mid-September. The well-publicized national and international supply chain issues have affected the acquisition of check stock and envelopes.”
The tax department has said all along in FAQs about the Act 115 rebates that paper checks would arrive later than direct deposits, but did not mention the paper shortage as a reason. Recipients can’t change their method of payment now.
The Act 115 rebates are $100 or $300 per exemption, depending on income. For example, a family of four earning less than $200,000 a year would receive $1,200, while a family that size earning more than $200,000 a year would receive $400. Hawaii residents must file a 2021 state income tax return by the end of this year to qualify for the rebate.
Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, HI 96813; call 808-529-4773; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
