SBH News + Views November 2
UI Trust Fund OK? “The Unemployment Trust Fund (UTF), which is used to pay unemployment benefits, entered the new federal fiscal year in the black,” said Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Director Dwight Takamine. The state had borrowed funds from the federal government beginning in December 2010 and anticipated owing $1 million in interest on September 30. Instead, the state only paid $211,000 for interest on loans made in December 2010.
However, the State and Hawai‘i employers were potentially facing additional interest payments this year. For loans taken during calendar year 2011, the accrued interest of $371,000 would be waived as long as the state took no further federal loans between October 1 and December 31, 2011. The DLIR, however, projected needing to borrow again during the last quarter of 2011, which would require the immediate payment of $371,000 in interest that had accrued on federal loans taken since January 1, 2011.
According to Governor Abercrombie,. Hawai‘i employers’ will save $1,200,000 because the law providing the mechanism for the assessment for the interest payment allows the DLIR to forego charging an Employment & Training Fund Assessment next year. DLIR projects paying off any short-term loan by the end of 2011.
Liberty for All. On Monday, November 7th, the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii is presenting a panel on “Government’s Role In Protecting Liberty,” at the UH Richardson Law School- Moot Court Room, from 11:45-1:15pm. Moderater: Dean Avi Soifer; Panelists: Clark Neily, Carole Petersen, Roger Fonseca, Sam Slom. Lunch will be served. Public welcome.
Spice Your Spa. The October issue of DaySpa Magazine featured Maui's skin care line, Paradise Skin Product's Sugar N Spice Toner as a Fall Must Have for it's natural use of using pumpkin wine to turn back the hands of time on mature and sun-damaged skin. This article can be viewed here: http://dld.bz/avXuw DaySpa Magazine is the nation's leader in trade publication for day spa owners and managers by providing the latest information on products and industry trends.
New State Debt Mind Boggling. Sheila Weinberg, founder of the Institute of Truth in Accounting, who was in Hawaii October 11, said, “the 2009 Hawaii Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) reported unfunded liability for the state employees medical fund (EUTF) of $7.2 billion and for HSTA VEBA of $1.6 billion for a total of $8.8 billion. These numbers are for July 1, 2007, even though the CAFR is for June 30, 2009.
The 2010 CAFR reported just last week, unfunded liability for EUTF of $11.5 billion and for HSTA VEBA of $2.5 billion for a total of $14.0 billion. These numbers are for July 1, 2009. (See p. 95 of the 2010 CAFR.) This is an increase of $5.2 billion in just two years. This is an increase of almost 60%. I don’t want to have nightmares, so I will not think about what has happened to the liability since 7/1/09.”
Also note that the EUTF liability per the 2009 CAFR was 4 times the amount of covered payroll. Per the 2010 CAFR the liability is now up to 8 times covered payroll. In other words to have enough money to pay the EUTF benefits employees have already earned, the state would have to take all of the money they are using to pay employees for eight years and put it in the EUTF.
The state’s 2010 total revenue was $9.9 billion. It would take all of the state’s annual revenues plus $2 billion more to have enough money to pay these benefits. The state’s reported liabilities as of June 30, 2010 totaled $10.5 billion. Therefore the liabilities for retirees’ health care benefits that employees have already earned, but the state has not set aside money to pay, is more than all of the other liabilities the state has. And this does not include pension benefits.
Here is a document that summarizes the health care benefits employees and retirees are offered: http://hawaii.gov/hrd/information/HRDInfoCentral/DocCentral/EEBenefits/SummaryEEBenefits
Maunalua Group Reformatted. Starting on November 6th, on the first Sunday of every month from 10 am – 1 pm, Maunalua Communities Foundation (MCF) will invite local farmers, artisans, food vendors and community groups to gather at Koko Marina Center in the parking lot between First Hawaiian Bank and Chevron gas station. Invited are neighbors from East Oahu and beyond to attend this event that will evoke emotions through sights, sounds and smells while instilling a sense of place where we are all responsible for the communities in which we live. MCF will also reach out to our visitors by inviting them to a market where they can mingle with locals from the community. With the hustle and bustle of our daily lives and the trend of less personal interactions through the internet and mobile phones, MCF’s vision is to have this market become a place to meet old friends, make new ones and find out what is going on in the world around us - the old-fashioned way!
Morgan: Victoria’s Secret. Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI), Honolulu Chapter is proud to announce that Regina Morgan, General Manager of their flagship store at Ala Moana, Victoria’s Secret, will be a guest speaker at a dinner meeting on Tuesday, November 15, 2011, 5:30 – 8:30 pm, at The Kahala Hotel & Resort. The program will focus on “Victoria’s Secret to Success.” Ms. Morgan will share who Victoria is, provide an overview of Limited Brands, explain Victoria’s Secret brand, and talk about the future of Victoria’s Secret and about the retail market in Hawaii. As the General Manager of Victoria’s Secrets #1 store, located at Ala Moana Shopping Center, Ms. Morgan will have valuable insight into the retail industry. This event is sponsored by Hawaiian Airlines, Pacific Business News, and Hawaii Business. To learn more about SMEI’s dinner meeting featuring Regina Morgan or to make a reservation, please visit http://www.smeihonolulu.com or contact Naomi Kanna by phone at 808-778-8884 or by email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Is Bigger Better? - The state has proposed a soaring residential skyscraper that would tower over Honolulu’s highest buildings in Kakaako. The building could be as high as 650 feet high, 200 feet above the First Hawaiian Bank Center, which at 440 feet is the tallest structure in the Islands. Named 690 Pohukaina, the project would also include two smaller residential and commercial towers as well as a parking structure and a civic/community center.
HCDA executive director Anthony Ching said plans call for construction of 204 affordable rental units, 300 affordable housing units and 500 market-priced apartments. Dexter Okada of the Kakaako Business and Landowners Association was the only one to raise questions about the impact it will have on its neighbors. He said he was concerned that the project would have the effect of raising property values and property taxes of small landowners, whose lots are too small to benefit from higher density allowances.
BJ Penn Down & Out? UFC GYM announced it will begin selling memberships to its newest location in Honolulu,. partnering with Hawaii native and two-division UFC champion BJ Penn. The location, which will open for workouts in early 2012, offering residents the opportunity to train like Penn and world-class UFC fighters. The 37,000 square foot facility will be located in the Kaka’ako community in the space formerly occupied by Pipeline Café. However, Penn lost his recent fight last week and announced after the fight that he was through. Fighters often change their mind. We’ll see.
Eggs & Things. Last Sunrise Breakfast Meeting of 2011! Great NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES with SBH members and guests! Phyllis Shimabukuro and sister Lois, family small business owners (Mikilua Poultry Farm, Inc., Island Fresh Eggs) and community leaders, will speak on “Buying Local and the Challenges to Hawaii Agricultural Products” at the next SBH Sunrise Networking Breakfast forum, Thursday, November 17, 7 – 8:30 am at the Pineapple Room in Ala Moana Macy’s.
This is the final Sunrise for 2011. It is held a week earlier than the usual last Thursday of the month because of Thanksgiving. Phyllis, was one of three honorees cited on September 16 by the Small Business Hawaii Entrepreneurial Education Foundation as a “Successful Business All Star.” She will discuss the family business and new product technology while sister Lois will detail the marketing of local agricultural products. The public is welcome to the SBH Sunrise. Advance reservations are required.
Call Darlyn at SBH 396-1724 for reservations or download the attached registration form and mail it in with you payment. You may also register online: http://smartbusinesshawaii.com/index.php/events/rsvp.
The Real News. Award winning Hawaii Reporter.com, Hawaii’s first electronic daily newspaper begun 9 years ago, still is free. Hawaii Reporter and Malia Zimmerman report daily (M-F) on the Rick Hamada Show, KHVH radio on 830 AM at, 7:40 am. Malia also reports on Kauai’s KKCR with Sandy Brodie on Tuesday mornings, on the station’s “Morning Paper.” She will report the news behind the news for you.
Want more local business information? Please visit the several SBH websites at: http://www.smartbusinesshawaii.com, http://www.educate808.com and http://www.sbhfoundation.org.
Aloha,
Sam