Title
BILL 168 (2025), TO ESTABLISH A REAL PROPERTY TAX EXEMPTION TO INCREASE AND MAINTAIN ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING (RPTR-16)
Description
The Committee is in receipt of the following:
1) Bill 168 (2025), entitled “A BILL FOR AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 3.48, MAUI COUNTY CODE, TO ESTABLISH A REAL PROPERTY EXEMPTION TO INCREASE AND MAINTAIN ACCESS TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING.” Bill 168’s purposes are to:
a) For properties that qualify for a Real Property Tax Home Exemption and a Long-Term Rental Exemption:
i) Reduce the required property value for a property to be totally exempt from $400,000 to $300,000; and
ii) Reduce the amount a property’s value must exceed from $400,000 to $300,000 to receive an exemption in the amount of $100,000; and
b) For properties with rent no more than 70 percent of fair market rents as established and updated each year by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, for tax years beginning on or after July 1, 2026:
i) Totally exempt the property if the property’s value does not exceed $500,000; and
ii) Provide a $100,000 exemption if the property’s value exceeds $500,000.
2) An Amendment Summary Form, dated December 2, 2025, from Councilmember Rawlins-Fernandez, with a proposed CD1 version of Bill 168 (2025). The proposed CD1 version:
a) Amends Subsection 3.48.466(A), Maui County Code, to set the Long-Term Rental Exemption at $300,000;
b) Deletes the proposed RPT exemption for properties with rent no more than 70 percent of fair market rents as established and updated each year by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, from Code Section 3.48.466;
c) Adds a new proposed Code Section 3.48.467 to establish an RPT exemption for dwelling units occupied as an affordable long-term rental-with rent no more than 70 percent of fair market rents as established and updated each year by the United States Department of Housing and Urban development and under a signed contract to lease for 12 consecutive months or more to the same tenant, as of the date of assessment, by a natural person with no other place of residence-for tax years beginning on or after July 1, 2027, as follows:
i) The property will be totally exempt where the value of the property is not in excess of $400,000; or
ii) If the value of the property is in excess of $400,000, the exemption will be in the amount of $400,000; and
d) Incorporates technical revisions relating to the numbering of the bill’s sections.
Status
The Committee may consider whether to recommend passage of Bill 168 (2025) on first reading, with or without revisions. The Committee may also consider the filing of Bill 168 (2025) and other related action.