Way Overdue

re: County of Molokai

A strong second to the Larry Helm treatise on the need for Molokai to have its own governance. Not only are there more possibilities for a tax base as Mr. Helm suggests but the State should take on the responsibility for establishing local government as exists in most areas of the Country. In addition to a tax base there needs to be revenue sharing, legislative grants, and programs for assistance for local government. A good example is our sister State to the north, Alaska. They have a provision in their statutes : to “assure that no municipality suffers impoverishment of necessary services, relative to other municipalities, because of the chance location of taxable wealth in the State”. When Molokai becomes a governmental entity as a County or City it would need assistance from the State. Presently all of that assistance comes from the Island of Maui. It would take a consitutional convention probably to make these needed changes. Our entrenched State leaders are not for decentralization or change, obviously. It would be a hard struggle to get to the point of being able to call our own shots as an Island Community. Are we up to it ?

Read Larry Helm’s letter to the editor here: http://themolokaidispatch.com/county-molokai-0