A bill that would lower property taxes for most Oahu homeowners by $70 a year won final passage from the Honolulu City Council this week despite the Caldwell administration’s concerns that it would cost city coffers more than $10 million in yearly revenue.

Bill 3 would raise the standard home exemption, eligible on properties where the owner is also the occupant, to $100,000 from the current $80,000.

Assuming the rate for the homeowner tax class stays at $3.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, the homeowner with a house assessed at $880,000 would pay the tax on $780,000 of value, resulting in a tax bill of $2,730 rather than $2,800.

The last time the exemption was increased was 2006, when it went to $80,000 from $40,000.

The bill also calls for the standard senior home exemption, eligible on properties where the owner-­­­occupant is at least 65 years old, to rise to $140,000 from the current $120,000.

The bill is the first authored by rookie Councilwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi to gain final approval.

The impact may not seem like much for the average family, but Tsuneyoshi views it as a shift in philosophy.

“It’s a start in the right direction in making sure we create a Hawaii that supports its people and ensures they can continue to call this place home,” Tsuneyoshi told supporters after the vote. Tsuneyoshi represents Council District 2, which runs from Mililani Mauka to Kahaluu, including the North Shore.

Tsuneyoshi noted that although the $3.50 per $1,000 rate for owner-occupants has remained the same for a number of years, homeowners are paying significantly more in property taxes because of the increase in valuations and that the situation is having the greatest impact on some of the areas she represents.

The Real Property Assessment Division reported in December that the North Shore saw a jump of 10% in the past year, nearly double the 5.4% increase experienced elsewhere on Oahu. Real estate experts say the growth in the number of bed-and-breakfast establishments and transient vacation units in the North Shore region is at least partly to blame.

The Department of Budget and Fiscal Services said there are currently about 147,000 home exemptions on Oahu. Collecting $70 less from each of those property tax bills would result in $10.3 million less for city coffers “and may impair the city’s ability to fulfill its (Employee Retirement System) and other financial obligations,” Budget Director Nelson Koyanagi said.

It was unclear Friday if Mayor Kirk Caldwell will veto the bill. Because all nine Council members voted on Wednesday to support the measure and six votes are needed to override a veto, Caldwell would likely face an uphill climb trying to convince four of them to reverse their positions on a property tax relief measure.

The mayor has until May 3 to sign the bill, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.

Among other issues dealt with this week, Council members voted to approve:

>> Resolution 19-61, allowing for exemptions for the 42-story Ililani affordable and market condominium project at Keawe and Halekauwila streets in Kaka­ako. Of 328 planned units, 165 will be sold to those making between 80% and 140% of Honolulu’s median income. The resolution waives $470,000 in building permit and plan review fees, and defers payment of $2.2 million in wastewater system facility charges and $605,000 for wastewater system charges until the building receives an occupancy permit.

>> Bill 94 (2018), allowing Brigham Young University-Hawaii approval to develop 14.85 acres at its Laie campus for dormitory space. Preliminary plans submitted by BYUH call for five new buildings — three for single students and two for married couples. A total of 368 units are proposed to be built through 2024 at a cost of $124 million.

>> Bill 73 (2018), increasing the parking rate at Honolulu Zoo to $1.50 an hour from $1 an hour, and establishing a $1.50 an hour rate for parking in Aala and Kamamalu parks in urban Honolulu. City officials said they don’t intend to charge for parking at every park site, but noted that these three lots tend to attract motorists who abuse the privilege of parking there and hog the spaces, leaving other park-goers with fewer stalls.

>> Bill 96 (2018), making it easier for owners and associations of older condominium high-rises to comply with a tougher fire safety ordinance, the so-called sprinkler law, passed last year in the wake of the July 2017 fire at the Marco Polo high-rise complex that killed four people. The law calls for the owners of about 350 high-rises built before 1975 to install automated sprinkler systems both in common areas and individual units, or follow through with the recommendations of a required building and life safety evaluation within six years. The new bill would suspend the time clock for those owners who get stalled by delays in obtaining city building permits, and eliminates the need for the safety evaluation if the owners opt to install sprinklers.