A Hawaii County Council committee unanimously approved legislation Tuesday that would double the share of property taxes earmarked for a popular land conservation maintenance fund.

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A Hawaii County Council committee unanimously approved legislation Tuesday that would double the share of property taxes earmarked for a popular land conservation maintenance fund.

The Governmental Operations and External Affairs Committee voted 7-0 to forward to the full council with a favorable recommendation Bill 165, which would increase the annual allocation of real property tax revenue to the Public Access, Open Space and Natural Resources Preservation (PONC) Maintenance Fund from 0.25% to 0.5%. The measure would also remove the fund’s
$3 million accrual limit.

Council members Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder and Dennis Onishi were absent from the vote.

The PONC commission is a county advisory body tasked with identifying lands for purchase using funds derived from 2% of annual property tax revenues, from which 0.25% is currently allocated to the maintenance fund. Properties acquired by PONC are protected from development in perpetuity, and opened up to the public for educational, recreational and cultural uses.

Community-based nonprofit organizations can apply for PONC grant funding to cover costs associated with public safety, habitat restoration and land management tasks like upkeep, feral animal control and cultural site preservation.

The county’s most recent PONC acquisition was Honolulu Landing, a 364-acre coastal parcel along the Puna Coast near the Hawaiian Shores neighborhood. The $3.7 million purchase was announced on May 14 by Mayor Kimo Alameda, who lauded the preservation of the property’s 4,000 feet of rocky, undeveloped shoreline and broad swath of deep jungle dotted with archaeological sites like ancient village complexes, burial sites, temples known as heiau, house platforms and traditional farming terraces, some dating back nearly 1,000 years.

Other recently acquired PONC properties include the $2.1 million, 15,372-square-foot shoreline parcel near the surfing spot known as “Banyans” along Ali‘i Drive in Kailua-Kona, which was saved from a five-story condominium development, and the 81-acre Kawainui Makai in North Kohala offering shoreline access and coastal open space.

Other lands in various stages of acquisition include the nearly 2,000-acre Kumukahi property in Kapoho, the Waiakahi‘ula Village Ocean Access and Burial Sites in Puna, as well as a handful of properties along the Kona Coast including Kaupalaoa, Keawenui, the Kaloko Cloud Forest and the Kuakini Parking Lot.

According to the bill’s text, its purpose is to “improve the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of the maintenance fund” by ensuring that “sufficient resources are available for current and future stewardship responsibilities and opportunities.”

“The council finds that expanding the fund’s revenue source and making it more secure will improve the county’s ability to improve and strengthen the PONC program,” the bill reads.

The measure would also remove an itemized list of eligible expenses and grant award procedures from the County Charter and relocate them into the County Code. According to the legislation, this would allow for “more flexibility to fulfill the original purpose of the fund, making it easier to amend and adapt program requirements and procedures as community needs, environmental conditions, and best practices change over time.”

“The council finds that having a high degree of specificity in the charter results in a more rigid and narrow administration of funding and program guidelines, which can hamper program effectiveness,” the bill reads.

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Since the measure calls for a change to the County Charter, the proposed amendment would be put to voters on the 2026 General Election ballot.

Despite the program’s seemingly near-universal acclaim, several people submitted written testimony in opposition to the bill. These included Hawaii Community College Assistant Professor Drew Kapp, who worried that it would take power away from PONC commissioners and put it squarely in the hands of the mayor and Department of Finance.

“I am concerned that decisions about the maintenance funding may wind up being made exclusively in the mayor’s office and not reflective of the public’s wishes and needs,” Kapp wrote. “I am concerned about a diminished or nonexistent role of PONC commissioners, whose work has been critical, and how decisions about the PONC program may not reflect community perspectives, providing critical oversight. Overall, I am concerned about the likelihood of less transparency in (the) PONC program and how it is funded if Bill 165 were passed, and the potential politicization of the processes.”

During Tuesday’s meeting, Hilo Councilwoman Jenn Kagiwada tried to address this concern, prodding Finance Department officials in an effort to “allay some of the fears here so that we can get past this.”

“One of the testifiers said that the way the current proposed charter amendment reads, the director of Finance can use the money for county expenses, not necessarily funding the nonprofits,” Kagiwada said. “Is that how you interpret it?”

Deputy Finance Director Malia Kekai fielded the question, explaining that as the roster of PONC-acquired properties grows and the number of stewards available to care for them lags behind, the county will likely have to step in and use more maintenance funds directly instead of channeling them through grants.

“Obviously, we always want to lean on our stewardship partners, but for the properties that don’t have stewards, we do have to maintain them,” Kekai said. “So, the county will be using those funds more, and I think that’s kind of what the increased spend will be, also, moving forward.”

The typical annual allotment from the fund used for maintaining the properties, she said, is roughly $500,000.

“That’s mainly been grants,” Kekai said. “But what we’ve been kind of taking on is really more kuleana on our part of, like, okay, what about all the other properties? There’s, you know, 10,000 acres out there. … The Department of Finance will need to spend some of those funds, obviously, because we need to maintain the other — I think it’s 20 — parcels that don’t have stewards at this point, and that will continue to grow. We kind of work both in tandem of getting more stewards, but then also making sure that we’re doing our part in stewarding the land, as well.”

This sentiment that PONC is flush with cash but sorely lacking stewarding groups was shared by PONC Program Manager Ben Shapiro, who said the program has “plans for increased management costs so additional resources would be useful.”

“We have consistently been at the threshold of $3 million for a number of years, so I think the funds are there,” Shapiro said. “What we need is more stewards. That’s what we really need, especially as we acquire more property and take on more management responsibilities. Having more partners from the community and more stewards aligned would be very helpful.”

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Email Stefan Verbano at [email protected].