Aerial photos help fight Hawai'i County tax scofflaws (Volcano: to rent, assessors)

[OpenD]

A couple of years ago I remarked in a discussion here that Hawai'i County should employ satellite photos from Google Earth or other imagery services to spot non-permit construction, both to be able to provide better enforcement and to get them onto the property tax rolls. On the mainland, communities in states like Connecticut have been using the satellite imaging technology for that purpose for several years to great advantage.

Now the county is using photography for exactly that purpose, but to my surprise, satellite imaging didn't cut it for them:

Property tax assessors across the country are applying a new technology to crack down on this old crime — comparing aerial photographs and satellite images to existing house plans. Hawaii County began using that process about a year ago, Real Property Division Chief Stanley Sitko said.

“We were using Google Earth before, but Google Earth is not that accurate,” Sitko said.

The county is using Pictometry, a technology that provides aerial photographs, taken at an angle to provide views of both roof and exterior walls, to use for assessment analysis. Sitko said he’s looking forward to the day, perhaps a year or two from now, when the county will have the ability to overlay parcel lines onto the images, as well as integrate another computer program which compares older images with newer ones, to look for increased building size.

Right now, the county is working to integrate the Pictometry images with the county’s geographic information system, Sitko said.

Getting the images doesn’t cost his department anything, Sitko said, because the Police Department is already doing the flyovers as part of their operations. Sitko said he believed the equipment to get the images was purchased with federal funds

Aerial photos help fight tax scofflaws | Hawaii Tribune Herald

Oh, you thought all those small planes flying over were just tourists on their way to see the lava flow into the ocean? Dude, how do you think the Po-Po keeps finding those camoflaged underground grow operations?

And now, they're helping to tame the Wild Wild West in East Hawai'i.

If you're interested, here's a link to the Pictometry site, to see what kind of imagery they're getting, as well as the advanced tools assessors now have available to them, such as automatic roof and wall calculations, and ChangeFindr (tm). http://www.pictometry.com/

[Fredesch]

Photogrammetry has been around for at least 80 years. It is the traditional way to collect data for topographic maps and charts used for navigation. With good stereo models you can accurately measure object, height, width, whatever. Pictometry is a company that is pushing shooting at an angle instead of straight down as it is easier for (untrained) people to recognize features on the ground and an online map provider uses this type of photography for birds eye view.

The county of Hawaii is about 20 years behind in using imagery in taxing and zoning compliance. The good thing for the county is they get the imagery for free.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by Fredesch

Pictometry is a company that is pushing shooting at an angle instead of straight down as it is easier for (untrained) people to recognize features on the ground and an online map provider uses this type of photography for birds eye view.

Clearly this is not your father's orthography. Features such as automatic calculation of dimensions and area make this far more user-friendly than previous versions. And user-friendly equals practical.

The county of Hawaii is about 20 years behind in using imagery in taxing and zoning compliance. The good thing for the county is they get the imagery for free.

I think the real takeaway here is that the county IS using the latest version of this technology now, and that property owners ARE getting increased tax bills based on the discovery this technology is providing.

[hotzcatz]

And there are now more building violations inspectors than there used to be, too.

[terracore]

Seems like half the roofs you see on Puna google images are the tarp variety. Until the image quality improves to the point that you can discern the difference between an HPM tarp and a structure roof, I don't see it being very useful.

[Fredesch]

30 years ago, when I took photogrammetry in college, you would be asked to describe whether a farm had tile drainage or not. So figuring out a tarp vs a solid roof is trivial. We used to have to measure difference in elevation (height) and measure and analyze shadows to figure stuff out. With bing maps birds eye view you get a look from multiple directions and get to look at the sides of a structure as well as the roof. So visible changes will be obvious.

Fairfax county has been required to use photogrammetry for verifying tax bases for 20 years and while you can appeal your tax assessment, the number of successful appeals is below 2 percent. In general the counties assessment is within 2 or 3 percent of the market value at the time of the assessment. I believe all this started when a property owner sued the county as their assessment was up to date but many others were old which made the suing property owners taxes higher than his neighbors. So tax assessments are reevaluated every year and new imagery flown and analyzed every two years.

There are near zero illegal ohanas in Fairfax, near zero unpermitted extensions and the most common violation they now catch are people moving their shed too near their propery boundary especially when their property backs to a park.

If Hawaii county wants to have a modern tax base, they can do it.

[Rabrrita]

Originally Posted by terracore

Seems like half the roofs you see on Puna google images are the tarp variety. Until the image quality improves to the point that you can discern the difference between an HPM tarp and a structure roof, I don't see it being very useful.

Google Maps is like looking at a photocopy of a newspaper picture whereas Pictometry is like looking at High Definition/Resolution picture. Google Maps is also edited as required by law so it can only be used to flag a parcel for inspection. Pictometry is prima facie. Google Maps are time delayed (old), Pictometry is current.

[KaraBenNemsi]

How in the world would they politically manage to do this?! Nothing gets enforced here on the island. The estimate of incorrect square footage in the county is 40%+ for all structures. Now if 40% of all voters would get letters with tear-down orders (for which they need a permit to), penalties, added taxes etc most would simply ignore them. As we always do. And chase the mayor with his deputy heads and councilmen out of office with the next election.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by KaraBenNemsi

How in the world would they politically manage to do this?!

Nothing political was required.

Nothing gets enforced here on the island.

I say that's an old and obsolete view.

The estimate of incorrect square footage in the county is 40%+ for all structures.

References please.

Now if 40% of all voters would get letters with tear-down orders (for which they need a permit to), penalties, added taxes etc most would simply ignore them. As we always do. And chase the mayor with his deputy heads and councilmen out of office with the next election.

I disagree. I think there is a growing awareness across the county that the only way out of the jungle is to start raising revenues by fairly taxing everyone. That's just my opinion, to be sure, but I find many of my friends and neighbors who are paying full-boat taxes agree.

And people who are now getting increased property tax bills based on the Pictometry results... what are they going to do? Pay, lose their property, or fight? If the answer is to fight, on what grounds?

The change may not be rapid, but over time I think it will be sure.

[JungleWahine]

While I guess I wouldn't mind paying taxes on my non-permitted buildings, I don't want to encourage anything that would make me HAVE to get a permit. And the taxes thing would depend on where the taxes go. Oahu doesn't really need any more of my money.
I find the permit thing ridiculous here. The prices that licensed electricians and plumbers charge here are outrageous. And both times I have dealt with either, they were morons. I don't care if you have a med pakalolo licence or not, you don't need to be smoking it while working on plumbing. If you are in that much pain, you should retire. If you could do the work yourself it MIGHT be ok. But then you have idiot inspectors. My friends were driven out of their bakery before it really got up and running by a bad inspector. According to him, they needed new ovens, new fridges, new sinks, etc etc. Come to find out, after they spent the money of course, that they didn't need any of it. They were not dumb, they looked into all of this before they put any of the original items in. But when they called, they were told that the inspector they were dealing with was the only one being made available to them. And this guy was not going to sign off unless they appeased him. Not sure if it was a haole hate thing (he kept making derogatory comments) or he was looking for a bribe. My vote goes to bribe, since a similar thing happened to a friend with a business in Volcano. She just kept calling every few hours until they agreed to send someone else. Not sure if it was the same guy or not.
So the short of it is, tax me, sure. But no, I am not taking down the ohana house me and my kids are in to live in a tent. And with my husband making $7.25 here, there's no way I will ever be able to afford $160,000 just for "Hawaii Licensed" pot smoking electricians and plumbers. (nothing against pot smokers, but on an $80,000 job? Puhleeze!)I don't see them trying to bulldoze it anyway, they'd have to rent a D9 to get to it. LOL, now that's a thought though, buy the property next door, put up a shack, they D9 it to bulldoze the shack, resell property for twice as much, muahahaha! =P