In yet another controversy over where Hawaii lawmakers actually live, a state senator representing the Kakaako area asserts that he does in fact reside there — and that he made a mistake claiming homeowner tax exemptions on a property he owns outside his district.
Sen. Brickwood Galuteria (D, Kakaako-McCully-Waikiki) made those assertions this week after an adviser to his latest general-election challenger filed a complaint with the Honolulu City Clerk’s office this past fall.
The complaint, submitted by East Honolulu resident Richard Baker, flagged a discrepancy between Galuteria’s listed Kakaako address and the Palolo area home for which he claims a homeowner exemption.
"Honolulu real estate tax regulations state that a taxpayer may only claim owner/occupant exemption for a single (principle) residence, and that in any case the taxpayer must be a legal resident at that address," Baker’s Nov. 2 complaint stated. "Something has to be wrong here."
City property records show that Galuteria claims an $80,000 homeowner exemption on the Palolo property, which he bought in 2005 and is valued at $1.8 million.
Baker’s complaint further questioned whether Galuteria actually resides at his listed Royal Capitol Plaza apartment on Curtis Street in Kakaako, along with his wife and mother.
"It defies logic that three people could really be living together in this 548-square-foot one-bedroom apartment, with all 3 sharing a single bathroom," Baker’s complaint states.
Baker’s complaint asserts that Galuteria also claims another exemption on a Kaneohe property that he owns, but city records don’t list him as claiming an exemption there.
On Tuesday, Galuteria said he simply forgot that he was receiving the tax exemption on the Palolo property.
"We make mistakes. We’re trying to clear it up," Galuteria said, following the Senate’s regular floor session. The actions were "nothing intentional or covert," he added.
Based on Galuteria’s admissions in the media, the city is working to calculate the back taxes that he owes, said Jesse Broder Van Dyke, spokesman for Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell.
Staff with the City Clerk’s Office, on the advice of the city corporation counsel, declined to provide a record of the complaint against Galuteria on Tuesday without a request in writing first through the state Office of Information Practices.
Baker provided copies of those records instead.
The city clerk’s staff did say that the office had just mailed out a decision on Baker’s complaint. Baker hadn’t seen it yet Tuesday, and Galuteria didn’t return subsequent requests for comment on the decision.
Earlier in the day, Galuteria said the Palolo property had been in his wife’s family for years and that it was where she was raised before he later purchased it. He added that he moved to Kakaako in 2007.
Now, he said, his five grandchildren live at the Palolo house, and he stays in Kakaako with his wife and mother to help with their medical ailments.
"I spend time in both places because there is a need," Galuteria said. He added that Baker had made him a "target" and that "his motives are suspect to me."
Baker said Tuesday that his efforts against the Kakaako senator aren’t personal. Instead, he said, he started uncovering what he found to be questionable details about Galuteria during his advocacy for Kakaako residents. The neighborhood is witnessing a surge of high-end development under the Hawaii Community Development Authority.
Baker this past fall also called on the Hawaii State Ethics Commission to investigate conflict-of-interest allegations against Galuteria for garnering a salary from a nonprofit Native Hawaiian advocacy group chaired by Office of Hawaiian Affairs Board of Trustees Chairman Robert Lindsey Jr. OHA owns land in Kakaako Makai.
The commission refused, telling Baker in an Oct. 4 letter that there’s nothing in the state ethics code that stops legislators from introducing or voting on bills that affect their employment outside of the Capitol.
Rep. Calvin Say (D, Palolo-St. Louis Heights-Kaimuki), former House speaker, has been embroiled in a similar challenge pertaining to his residence. Several of his constituents allege that his primary residence is outside of his House district — an allegation that Say has repeatedly denied.
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CORRECTION: The total assessed property value for the Palolo property owned by state Sen. Brickwood Galuteria is $1.8 million, according to city records. An earlier version of this story reported it was $1.18 million, which is only the land value, not the full property value including the home.
