Question: What’s with the motor vehicle registration renewal notices? I recently received a notice, then just found out that they supposedly undercharged me, so I have to pay more. Is that true?
Answer: Yes, if your registration expires at the end of the year.
Renewal notices sent for motor vehicles with registrations that expire Dec. 31 showed an incorrect "Total Due" because of a programming error, said Dennis Kamimura, administrator of Honolulu’s Motor Vehicle & Licensing Division.
The error involved December 2011 renewal notices sent by all four counties, he said.
Basically, the "Total Due" does not reflect increases in the state vehicle weight tax and state registration fee.
The state Legislature increased the weight tax rates from 0.75 cents per pound to 1.75 cents per pound for vehicles weighing 4,000 pounds or less; from 1 cent to 2 cents a pound for vehicles between 4,001 and 7,000 pounds; and from 1.25 cents to 2.25 cents a pound for vehicles 7,001 to 10,000 pounds. Vehicles weighing more than 10,001 pounds now pay a flat rate of $300 per year.
The state registration fee was increased to $45 from $25.
Corrected notices will be sent "in the very near future," Kamimura said Tuesday.
People who go online to renew their registrations will be charged the correct amount, he said.
Those who go to a motor vehicle office with the incorrect renewal will be informed of the programming error and charged the correct amount, while vehicle owners who mail in the incorrect renewal notice will be sent a rejection letter informing them of the increased total amount due.
"We apologize for the inconvenience this programming error has caused," Kamimura said.
Question: If we witness someone in the act of "tagging" (putting graffiti on a surface), what can or should we do?
Answer: You should immediately call police at 911, said Michelle Yu, spokeswoman for the Honolulu Police Department.
If you want to report existing graffiti, you have several options, including HPD’s Graffiti Hotline, 529-3222, and the city’s Graffiti Hotline, 296-9473.
In both cases, you will hear a recording. HPD’s hotline says if the graffiti is on state or city property, the responsible agency will remove it. If it is on private property, it will be the responsibility of the private owner to take action.
HPD also says you can contact agencies directly to report tagging: 848-4500 for bus shelters; 484-7600 for city drainage canals, sidewalks and streets; 768-3001 for parks; 484-7644 for traffic signs and signal boxes; 748-5000 for water-related facilities (Board of Water Supply); and 837-8047 for state highway facilities.
In the McCully-Moiliili area, you can contact the community-based Totally Against Graffiti group, which works to rid that neighborhood of graffiti. Call 944-4656 or email marinhi@aol.com.
AUWE
To whoever designed and built the new $5.5 million Wahiawa Transit Center. The parking stalls and traffic lanes are so narrow I have difficulty maneuvering my full-size car when entering and departing the top deck. The upper ramp to the parking stalls is so steep at one point I was staring up into the sky and couldn’t see in front of me. By sheer luck I was able to exit without any damage to my car or the building. — Disappointed Motorist
MAHALO
To whoever found my wife’s expensive prescription glasses by putting it into our Nissan Frontier truck’s bed at the Mililani Costco parking lot on Oct. 25. My wife was so distraught when she could not find her glasses that our shopping trip was cut short, but was so relieved when I saw the eyeglass case in the bed of our truck. God Bless to the person who put it there. — Mel and Bev Chow
Write to "Kokua Line" at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
