Representative Ken Ito, Chair WLO, Representative James K. Tokioka, Chair LGM, and members of the Committees,
Comments in SUPPORT of SCR77 SD1
Dear Representative Ken Ito, Chair WLO, Representative James K. Tokioka, Chair LGM, and members of the Committees,
Aloha. As you will soon be evaluating SCR77 SD1 to determine your position on concurrence, we would like to provide you with our evaluation and recommendation.
In FY 2009 DLNR-DBOR changed its book keeping by segregating its Revenue and Expense ledgers from a single consolidated presentation into four separate categories i.e. Harbors, Ocean Recreation, Boat Ramps and Non-Harbor Administration. In doing so, the Harbors account was stripped of revenue from several large sources that, prior to 2009, provided sufficient revenue to keep “Harbors” (as well as DBOR as a whole), in the black. Some of the accounts that were removed, and their 2009 totals are:
Liquid Fuel Tax $1.6 million
Rental of DBOR Land and Wharf 1.6 million
Parking Fees .124 million
CG Boating Safety Grant .678 million
Ramp Fees (comm..and rec.) 1.79 million
Cruiseship Revenue .453 million
________
TOTAL $6.245 million
Note: In addition, revenue from the $ 2.9 million Hawaii allocation of the 2009 federal grant from the Sportfish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund also does not appear in the accounting sheets provided in Exhibit B of the DBOR FY 2009 amendments to its Administrative Rules from which the foregoing data was extracted. More than half of this $710 million Trust Fund comes from Motorboat fuel taxes, and the purpose of this Grant is to return these funds to the motorboaters who are inadvertently taxed by the federal Highway Fund for fuel that was not used on our highways. Hawaii has already been allocated $2.5 million from this Trust Fund for 2010. The circumstances surrounding how this Fund is being used should be a key item in the Audit being proposed. The same goes for the “Liquid Fuel Tax” account because it is just applying the federal Trust Fund scenario to the State fuel taxes paid by our motorboaters. Also, I noted that there are no OHA entries in these accounts.
We contend that the primary purpose of the foregoing establishment of “Harbors” as a separate account in 2009 and effectively stripping it of the substantial revenues itemized above, was done to portray “Harbors” as “operating in the red” and thereby justifying the need for the 60% to 90% mooring fee increases proposed by DBOR (implemented by HAR on Apr. 1, 2010). Had this “cooking of the books” not occurred, and the long standing accounting methods that were used prior to 2009 continued, DBOR (the “Harbors” sub-account) would still be operating in the black. I sincerely believe that this book keeping skullduggery clearly illustrates the dark depths that Laura Thielen will go to in her quest to have her way and shape DBOR in her image; even though nearly all of the boaters oppose it. This is the heart of the problem facing the boating community. And, that is a primary reason why we need the audit proposed in SCR77. I have documents that support these and related issues and would be happy to brief you on them.
Please concur on SCR77. This is perhaps the most important action we can take to help correct the highly unpopular course that DLNR-DBOR is on, and bring back management that is fair, equitable and acceptable to the boaters.
Sincerely,
William E. Mossman
Hawaii Boaters Political Action Association
2542267
From: rgaffney@pacificboatsales.com
To: hbpaa@aol.com
Sent: 4/16/2010 4:37:04 P.M. Hawaiian Standard Time
Subj: Fwd: Something is wrong.......
Mahalo,
Rick
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