Over 200 people attended the County Council’s Budget and Finance committee’s hearing wherein residents of West Maui in Lahaina are being requested to give their comments for Maui County’s budget for its 2012 fiscal year.

More than half of the people in the courtroom were present in order to give their testimonies as well as their arguments against the proposed timeshare property tax increase by Arakawa Mayor Alan Arakawa seeking to raise the tax from $14 to $19.60 for each $1,000 worth of timeshare property value. Speaking on behalf of the Hawaiian chapter of the American Resort Development Association was Daniel Dinnel.

Dinell’s testimony says that “as ARDA-Hawaii has previously testified, following a 69 percent increase to the real property tax in 2005, the timeshare industry is again being singled out with the largest single increase of $5.60.” Meanwhile, Marriot Maui Ocean Resort Club’s representative, Rob Welch, also gave the club’s testimony saying “our timeshare owners are already heavily burdened with the highest property tax rate at $14 per $1,000. An increase of 40 percent, to $19.60, will have an immediate negative impact to our owners and our associates.”