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County staff describe Dolphin Bay acquisition and operating plans as committee forwards budget bill
Summary
Committee members approved forwarding Bill 140, which includes appropriations tied to the county's recent purchase of the Dolphin Bay Hotel (now Dolphin Bay apartments). Housing staff said the county paid $2,680,000 for the property, which has 17 units and will use a mix of tenant rent, Housing Choice Vouchers and homeless-housing funds to support operations.
The Hawaii County Committee on Finance voted March 17 to forward Bill 140 to full council with a favorable recommendation after a detailed staff briefing on the county’s recent acquisition of the Dolphin Bay Hotel and the proposed operating accounts.
Housing staff said the county purchased the property for $2,680,000. Gary Wong of the Office of Housing described the site as “Dolphin Bay apartments” with 17 units — 13 studios, three one-bedroom units and one two-bedroom unit — and one unit set aside for staff. Wong said two units were allocated with preference for people experiencing homelessness and that funding sources for the project include the homeless-and-housing fund and the affordable housing production fund.
Housing Administrator Kiel Costa described the property as revenue-generating and said the administration needs appropriation action to account for revenue in the current fiscal year. “We purchased Dolphin Bay Hotel. It is revenue generating, so we just need an appropriation for the revenue that's coming in this fiscal year,” Costa said.
Councilors questioned revenue and expense projections, management arrangements and tenant targeting. Staff said the projected tenant rent income line ($50,156) reflects tenant portions at 50% AMI rent levels and that some units are expected to use Housing Choice Vouchers; Gary Wong said the property manager — Mark Development — is leasing the units and that the county is also applying administrative homeless-and-housing funds to support case management services.
On purchase-price and capacity, staff said the county is obligated for a 20-year compliance period tied to funding; after 20 years the county will fully own the property outright. Committee members asked staff to provide additional projections for revenue, operating expenses and the management fee structure (staff estimated typical management fees in the 5%–8% range for comparable properties).
The committee recorded seven members in favor and two absent when forwarding Bill 140 to council with a favorable recommendation.
Next steps: staff will provide requested financial projections and more detailed breakdowns of departmental charges, projected rents, and management fees in advance of the full-council review.
