Ask the Mayor: Whats Up with the Exponential Increase in Community Class Fees?
County of Maui Park’s Department Tennis Program. Kalama Park. File photo by Tricia Wilstead.
Mayor Alan Arakawa answers some of the most-asked questions submitted to his staff.
Aloha Mayor,
Q: Why are community class fees increasing 1000% and therefore hurting our keiki? This was an extremely important budget detail carelessly overlooked. I support the amendment proposed by Councilmember Cochran to not raise the fees for community classes. From tennis at Kalama, which is a gem of a program in South Maui serving families all over the island, to hula hālau using community spaces, your voting will hurt our keiki and eliminate the programs that benefit them with both activity, life lessons, and even the Hawaiian culture. With all the problems of affordability on Maui let’s not have you and your Sandy Baz create more problems that directly impact the people you are meant to serve.
A: You might be a little confused about this one. It was our Maui County Council members who proposed and voted unanimously to increase community class fees, not the Mayor’s Office, the Parks Department or our Budget Director Sandy Baz. However I believe the council realized their mistake right away because soon after they passed the increase, they asked me to send a budget amendment to fix it. I did so and now the Council will likely adopt a percentage increase which will be much fairer for our community classes.
Want to ask the Mayor?
Submit your questions about County of Maui programs, services, operations or policies to Mayor Alan Arakawa via email:AskTheMayor@mauicounty.gov, phone: 270-7855 or mail: 200 S. High Street 9th Floor, Wailuku, Hawaii 96793. Questions submitted will be considered for inclusion in the Ask the Mayor column.
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