Owners of Oahu properties designated historic residences would need to pay $700 more annually under a bill that has received an initial nod from the City Council Budget Committee.
Bill 52, introduced by Councilman Ikaika Anderson, would increase the “minimum tax” paid by property owners claiming an exemption for a historic home dedication to $1,000 annually, up from the current $300.
Anderson told colleagues at Wednesday’s Budget Committee meeting that he appreciates that those receiving the exemption have to spend money to upkeep their properties and then make them available for public display.
“Most of the owners of our historic homes, with all due respect, have the financial means to pay the $1,000,” Anderson said.
“A $1,000 tax liability is still a huge break when you take a look at what other folks pay for their homes that are assessed at market value when you’re looking at an average tax bill that’s north of $3,500,” he said.
The bill now goes back to the full Council for the second of three required approvals.
The Real Property Division website lists 323 properties receiving the exemption as of Jan. 1. Most of the properties are in older urban Honolulu neighborhoods such as Nuuanu, Manoa, Waikiki, Diamond Head-
Kahala and Hawaii Kai, but there are also a smattering of properties outside the urban core in areas including Ewa Villages, Kailua and Kaneohe.
City Budget Director Nelson Koyanagi said the Caldwell administration has no objection to the change. Koyanagi’s only concern was language that may have allowed about 20 properties now receiving the minimum tax on only a portion of their land to pay $1,000 instead of a larger sum. Based on Koyanagi’s reasoning, the committee took out that language in the draft that advanced Wednesday.
Ihilani Burgess Chun Staton, who owns a 1930s historic home in Kualoa known as “the Coral House,” testified against raising the minimum tax to $1,000, citing financial hardship. The home’s composition makes it difficult to maintain “but that’s what makes it special,” she said.
The city offers a low-income tax credit of $300 that owners of historic properties struggling to make ends meet could be eligible to receive if their income meets qualifications, Anderson said.
To qualify for a historic home exemption, a property must be listed on the Hawaii Register of Historic Places that is certified by the State Historic Preservation Division, and the property owner must place a plaque in public view identifying the property as a historic home. The property owner must also ensure it is “visually accessible” or, if not, be required to provide “alternative visual visitations” at least 12 days a year, on the second Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The historic homes exemption program started in the mid-1980s under Mayor Frank Fasi. The rate was raised to $300 from $100 in 2010.
After a series of stories in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser showed a number of those on the city’s historic residences list in clear noncompliance while receiving tax breaks sometimes worth thousands of dollars, city officials acknowledged enforcement had been lax. Since then, new rules were imposed and inspections have increased.
Mayor Kirk Caldwell and his wife, Donna Tanoue, received a historic home exemption on their Manoa residence from 2006 to 2011, paying $100 the first four years and $300 the last two. They opted out of the program in 2012, the year Caldwell ran for mayor. City property records show the Caldwells paid $7,918.40 in 2016 taxes on the property, which was assessed at $2.68 million.
