A slew of real property taxation measures that might offer tax credits, tax exemptions or other means to aid homeowners affected by the approximately 10% or greater increase in real property assessments on Oahu is under consideration by the Honolulu City Council.

The Council proposals coincide with Mayor Rick Blan­giardi’s one-time $300 tax credit to nearly 152,000 qualifying homeowners as part of his proposed $3.41 billion operating budget for next fiscal year. The $300 rebates would be granted to those with an active home exemption on their 2023 assessment, regardless of property value.

If approved, Blangiardi’s tax credit — funded in total for approximately $45.5 million — would take effect July 1.

Although the mayor’s tax rebate gained public notice, the nine-member Council has for over a year mulled a laundry list of more than 20 tax relief bills. A few of the latest measures include ones co-introduced by Council Chair Tommy Waters and Council member Radiant Cordero, who presides over the Council’s budget committee.

The measures include helping low-income kupuna; helping homeowners who were placed into a higher rate-paying real property tax class; and those renting properties long term — for 12 months or more. Other tax relief measures introduced in 2022 would increase the homeowners exemption, revise tax classifications or apply a vacancy tax.

But to achieve an approved tax relief bill, the Council first plans to establish a Permitted Interaction Group to investigate matters relating to real property taxation issues. Another city panel — the Honolulu Salary Commission — recently used the efforts of a PIG investigation to study city workers’ salaries following three consecutive years of no salary adjustments. In March, that effort aided the Salary Commission’s recommendation to the Council to boost pay for the city’s mayor and department heads by 12.5% and greater, and provide a pay jump of 64.4% to the Council itself.

Provisionally, the tax-relief PIG — likely to be established during the Council’s April 19 meeting — would include Cordero, Chair Waters, Vice Chair Esther Kia‘aina and Council member Matt Weyer.

“The Permitted Interaction Group will look at all of the bills, and, at least for me, it will determine the strong­est bills that we may be able to pass to provide the best relief,” Cordero told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “I think the Council members have been hearing about the need for real property relief … (but) we don’t want to repeat year after year of possible one-time tax credits. We want to be able to provide longer-term solutions.”

Several property tax bills were under scrutiny during the Council’s April 4 budget committee meeting.

Among them, Bill 40 — introduced in 2022 by Kia‘aina — would increase the property tax home exemption to $110,000 from $100,000 and increase the exemption for homeowners over age 65 to $150,000 from $140,000. If approved as drafted, Bill 40 would apply to tax years beginning July 1, 2024, and thereafter.

But Weyer has offered amendments to that measure, including a higher increase in the home exemption to $120,000; an exemption for homeowners 65 and older of $180,000; and capping the low-income senior tax exemption for those 90 years and older at $200,000.

Kia‘aina has offered amendments to her bill as well. Like Weyer, she proposed increasing the measure’s exemptions to $120,000 from $110,000. She also proposed increasing the exemption for homeowners 65 and older to $160,000.

Andrew Kawano, director of the city Department of Budget and Fiscal Services, has told the budget committee that he does not support the age-related tax exemptions found in Bill 40.

“I would prefer to have even increases across all age groups,” he said. “I think it’s more equitable, I think (there’s) more uniformity.”

Kawano noted there are many people over 65 who still work and many whose annual incomes could be deemed “above average to wealthy.”

“To shift the relief there may not really achieve the overall goal of giving the most in need relief,” said Kawano. He added that although he did not oppose increasing tax exemptions, he preferred “across-the-board increases … and I would prefer it if it’s equitable to all taxpayers.”

Kawano also cautioned that no tax-relief measure should be “proportional” to increases in assessed property values, either — mainly, because it might impact the city’s ability to cover expenses and deliver core serv­ices to the island. Instead, he said such tax exemptions should be “measured.”

Moreover, the budget director said that every $10,000 of exemption increase equated to about $5 million less in real property tax collection. “That would mean we would have to find other sources to fund our operations,” Kawano said.

Kia‘aina balked at that statement.

“With regard to money, we’re getting increased revenue from increased property tax assessments, so that’s where we’re going to get the money,” she said. “So Bill 40, as introduced, costs $5 million. … My (amendment) costs another $5 million, so that’s $10 million, right?”

“Correct,” Kawano replied.

“So, I’m sorry, I think we can handle that,” Kia‘aina said. “With regard to all of the other avenues we’re going to be discussing in the PIG — and there are a lot — I look forward to that dialogue because to me there is extra revenue, but I don’t want us to think that we are starting from a baseline of no money; our coffers have increased already because of the real property tax assessments.”

During public comment, Ted Kefalas, representing the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, said the city’s tax- relief measures like Bill 40 that offer exemptions could take it a step further.

“Maui recently increased its home exemption by $100,000,” Kefalas said, “so theirs is now up to ($300,000).”

He added that Kauai County’s home exemption is up to $160,000.

“So right now Honolulu is third out of four counties, and the Big Island doesn’t even compare to the home prices that we’re dealing with here,” Kefalas said, adding that the median home price is now about $1 million. “We really need to find some way to provide a little bit of extra relief for local families who live in their homes, so we truly hope you guys will consider increasing these amounts, especially for kupuna who live on fixed incomes.”

The budget committee has recommended increasing Bill 40’s total exemptions by $10,000 — to $120,000 — but also agreed to let the PIG study the tax-relief measure along with others.