Question: Regarding the property tax appeals, once they are complete, will the city release a tally of how many appeals were successful, versus how many were rejected?

Answer: Oahu’s municipal government doesn’t generally release a detailed breakdown of all property tax appeals, but it does report details about appeals settled in the property owner’s favor, as required by law. “Historically, about 30 percent of appeals are ruled in favor of the appellant,” Ian Scheuring, a spokesperson for the office of Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, said in an email.

The most recent annual report, for settlements approved during tax year 2021-22, shows that 346 cases were settled, lowering the total assessed value of those properties from about $3.9 billion to about $3.3 billion, down about $556 million. Many settlements were for 2022 appeals, but the report also lists settlements for earlier tax years, including 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

The city tries to wrap up all appeals by the end of the tax year in which they were filed, but delays occur for a variety of reasons, Scheuring said, citing “staffing shortages at the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services, the pandemic having limited the number of cases that could be scheduled, and difficulties in getting appellants to schedule their appeal hearings” as examples.

The Revised Ordinances of Honolulu Section 8-12.14 requires the city director of budget and fiscal services to submit the settlement report to the city clerk no more than 90 days after the tax year ends. In the report, the entry for each settlement specifies the tax year, the taxpayer, the tax parcel, the original assessed value and the new assessment amount “as settled.”

Q: If I had already appealed my assessment last year and it hasn’t been decided yet, was I supposed to file another appeal this year? The deadline was Jan. 15.

A: Yes, if the city’s latest assessment of your property was different than the valuation you had appealed; no, if the assessed value was the same, according to the city.

“If you filed an appeal last year and the appeal is pending, an appeal on your behalf will automatically be placed on this year’s assessment, provided the new assessment was not changed from the assessment under appeal. However, if this year’s valuation differs from the valuation under appeal, you must file a new appeal if you want to contest this year’s assessment,” according to “Appeal Information” listed on the website of the Department of Budget and Fiscal Services’ Real Property Assessment Division.

As you said, an appeal application for a 2023 Real Property Notice of Assessment was due by Jan. 15.

Oahu property owners filed 2,134 property-value assessment appeals for fiscal year 2024, based on their 2023 Real Property Notice of Assessment. That’s a sharp increase from the previous cycle, when 1,699 appeals were filed, according to the city.

Auwe

People who leave out food for feral cats and don’t stay to clean up leftovers after the cats are finished eating may not realize that they are also feeding rats and mongooses, which they should not be doing! These folks should stick around and see what happens — from what I’ve seen the cats don’t eat all the food they leave. There’s plenty left for rats to eat at night and for mongooses to eat in the morning and then the feeders come back with another daily drop in the late afternoon/early evening and the vicious cycle continues. — A reader

Mahalo

A big mahalo to the person who put up the “crime alert” sign on Carlos Long Street in Palolo. We appreciate your thoughtfulness very much. — A Carlos Long Street resident

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.