Maui County committee approves resolution publishing FY26 real property tax rate ranges, leaves final tiers for later

The Budget, Finance & Economic Development Committee voted to approve a resolution publishing a range of real property tax rates for fiscal year 2026 and to include optional tier ranges for hotel/resort and timeshare classifications that the council can refine after property-value certification.

Committee chair Lee moved and a member seconded the motion to send the resolution to the county clerk for publication; the motion passed by voice vote. The committee emphasized the April 17 certification deadline as the trigger to finalize rate choices once assessed values are known.

The committee and staff said tiering hotel and timeshare classifications could create adjacent properties paying different effective rates if properties are subdivided into condominium units. As staff attorney Peter Hanano warned, tiering those classes requires careful drafting because a property split into units could be treated differently than a single parcel. Miss Martin, staff to the assessor's office, told the panel that the hotel class covers a wide range of assessed values and unit types and that tiering should be drafted to avoid unintended inequities.

To preserve flexibility while complying with state notice requirements, members directed staff to post broad ranges for the hotel and timeshare classes on the resolution (for example, a 0-to-800,000,000 range and an above-800,000,000 range were discussed) and to return to set the exact cutoffs after the April 17 certification of assessed values. Committee counsel confirmed the council may post ranges now and select a specific tier later.

Why it matters: publishing a range of rates by noon allowed staff to meet the county clerk's filing deadline and gave the council time to adjust exact tiers after the assessor's certified rolls arrive. The hotel/timeshare tier decision affects how lodging properties are taxed and was singled out for additional review because of condominium and unitized property structures that can complicate classification.

The committee record notes that separate legislation would be required to implement any credit or rebate program for affected taxpayers; staff advised that such an ordinance is distinct from the rate range resolution and is not subject to the noon filing deadline.

What comes next: the assessor's certification of assessed values (April 17) will provide the factual basis for setting precise tier cutoffs. The council will reconvene to set final tax rates and to consider any separate ordinance regarding credits or rebates.