Price of paradise includes a fee

A public notice in Wednesday’s Star-Advertiser informed readers that, starting Sept. 1, the state Department of Education will charge developers of residential housing in Leeward Oahu $4,334 each for construction of multi-family housing units and $5,504 each for single-family dwellings.

In other words, the cost of new housing in Leeward Oahu just went up.

The purpose of the fees, the notice said, is to help fund "new schools, or the expansion of existing schools," in areas of high population growth — in this case, the notice said, "areas served by any schools in the Aiea, Pearl Ciy, Waipahu, Campbell and Kapolei complexes."

The district is the fourth to be established since the Legislature authorized such districts in 2007. Hawaii island has one; Maui has two.

A local land-use planning expert said impact fees are reasonable, but must be supported by economic studies or could be challenged. A DOE official said the fees are based on methodology established by the law.

Next district up: Kakaako?

Hawaii No. 1 in looking out for your welfare

Hawaii leads the nation in generosity of welfare benefits for a typical recipient, according to the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.

That amounts to $49,176 a year for a typical recipient family of a single mother with two children, an increase of $7,265 from an inflation-adjusted of $41,910. The benefits include seven major programs — Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, food stamps, WIC (Women, Infants and Children), housing assistance, utility assistance and free commodities.

"Of course, not everyone on welfare gets all seven of the benefits in our study," says Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at Cato. "But, for many recipients — particularly the ‘long-term’ dependents — welfare clearly pays substantially more than an entry-level job."