Maui County Council adopts fiscal 2026 real property tax rates; residents urge senior relief and assessment review

The Maui County Council voted to adopt real property tax rates for fiscal year 2026, approving Resolution 25-88 FD2 with an 8-0 vote and one member excused.

The measure, described by staff as the adoption of rates effective July 1, 2025, passed after public testimony from residents who said rising assessments and taxes are harming seniors and condominium owners, and one speaker representing the Royal House of Hawaii urged the council to locate descendants of royal patent holders before enacting land-use decisions.

Vice Chair Sugimura moved to adopt Resolution 25-88 FD2 and the motion was seconded by Council Member Nohelani'u'u Hudgins. The council recorded eight ayes, zero nos and one excused; the motion carried.

Several testifiers told the council they are feeling immediate effects from rising property values and assessments. Melly King, a licensed realtor born and raised on Maui, told the council many local seniors live on fixed incomes and have seen assessments jump as home prices climbed. "Seniors should not be penalized and taxed at higher rates just because the people around them are buying and then selling at high prices," King said, urging the council to consider a tax cap for homeowners age 65 and older who live in their homes full time.

A second longtime resident, who identified herself as Linda Spauld, said the increase in assessments threatens seniors who have lived in their homes for decades. She told the council her neighbor properties sold for many times their prior value and that county staff told her to move out of her house when she asked about relief options. County officials on the record in the meeting directed residents to the real property tax assessment office for more information about relief programs.

Owners of short-term-rental and condominium units also raised concerns about assessment methods. Arch Schneider, owner of a one-bedroom, two-bath condo at Grand Champions Village, said the county's valuation model used past sales from 2022–2023 and failed to reflect market declines in 2025 after the Lahaina fire and policy changes. Schneider said assessments for some one-bedroom units rose from roughly $10,430 in 2023 to an estimated $23,000 in 2025, which he described as a 130% increase, and asked the council to investigate the software and assumptions used to produce 2025 assessments.

A representative of the Royal House of Hawaii said descendants of royal patent holders have not been contacted about county decisions affecting ancestral lands. That speaker urged the council to "round up all the heirs and original holders" and to follow kingdom laws in dealing with those lands, asserting that descendants hold allodial or royal-patent interests. Council members did not take formal action on those claims during the vote on the resolution.

Council staff and members noted that the public meeting had been reconvened to fix rates for fiscal year 2026 and that the hearing considered testimony only on Resolution 25-88 FD2. After the vote the council adjourned the public meeting and said a special council meeting would convene in about five minutes.

The motion, vote and testimony were recorded on the public meeting record; residents with questions about exemptions and tax-relief programs were directed to the real property tax assessment office for guidance and application details.