HRS § 46-74.2 - Public land or land exempt from taxation, etc.; cost otherwise assessable against borne by city and county

Whenever (1) any public land, except lands owned by the board of water supply, or (2) any land by law exempted from improvement assessments, or (3) any land exempted by law from payment of property taxes which land is owned by a society, association, or corporation engaged in religious, charitable, educational, scientific, literary, or other benevolent purposes, whose charter or other enabling act contains a provision that, in the event of dissolution, the land owned by such society, association, or corporation and herein exempted from assessments shall be distributed to another society, association, or corporation engaged in religious, charitable, educational, scientific, literary, or other benevolent purposes, forms part of any improvement district or fronts upon any street, alley, or other highway to be opened or improved or along which a storm drainage system or street lighting system is to be constructed or improved independently and would, if privately owned or not exempt from such assessment, be subject to assessment, the city council shall, nevertheless, without assessing such public or exempted land for any part of the cost of such improvements, by general ordinance appropriate and pay toward such improvements out of general revenues the portion of the cost thereof which would otherwise be assessable against the same in a lump sum or, at the election of the council, in such equal installments and with such interest thereon as the council shall determine. In the event, however, any part or parts of such exempt lands as described in the preceding sentence, except public lands, may be required for right-of-way or easement purposes within such improvement districts the value thereof shall be chargeable to the improvement district, and upon acquisition the owner shall be compensated therefor in the following manner: (1) Where the value of the part taken together with any severance damages exceeds the portion of the cost of the improvements which would otherwise be assessable against the exempt land, the county shall pay the difference to the owner or owners; (2) Where the value is less than the portion of the cost of improvements which would otherwise be assessable against such exempt lands, the value of the land shall be deducted therefrom and the county shall pay the balance of the assessment as provided herein. With respect to any proposed improvement where any part of the cost is thus to be borne by the city and county, the council shall have the same right of approval or protest as though the city and county were the private owner of the public or exempted land so involved. As to such expenditures for public and exempt lands, the city and county shall be entitled to be reimbursed out of state revenues by appropriations to be made from time to time by the legislature to the extent of fifty per cent of all assessments regularly apportioned against persons, corporations, or entities, which are part of any improvement district or frontage improvement and are exempted by law from the payment of such assessments. The city and county shall be entitled to be likewise reimbursed for the full amount of assessments regularly apportioned against public lands which are a part of any improvement district or frontage improvement, which public lands are owned in fee simple by the United States, or by the State, and which are not set aside for city and county parks, or for other city and county purposes or for street areas or frontages; provided that as to the University of Hawaii, Kapiolani park, including the Waikiki parks established by the laws of 1905, chapter 103, section 1, the city and county shall be entitled to full reimbursement for improvement assessments; and provided further that in case any land exempted by law from assessments as herein provided, other than public land, or any part thereof, is sold or leased after the establishment of a frontage improvement or an improvement district, the grantee, in the one case and the lessor in the other, shall assume the payment of assessments from the date of such sale or lease in the same manner as if the property had not been exempted from assessments and as if assessments proportionable against the property had been paid in installments to such date of sale or lease; and that all payments received from such grantee or lessor, as the case may be, shall be paid into the permanent improvement fund. Nothing in this section shall be taken to prejudice any rights of the State to reimbursement from the United States for assessments herein assumed by the State, but the latter shall be subrogated to the rights of the city and county on such assessments so assumed. [L 1919, c 241, pt of §2; RL 1925, §1852; am L 1925, c 191, §2; am L 1929, c 110, §1; am L 1932 2d, c 69, §1; RL 1935, §3183; RL 1945, §6704; am L 1949, c 267, §1(3); am L 1953, c 263, §1(2); RL 1955, §153-3; am L 1957, c 240, §2(2) and c 248, §1; am imp L 1965, c 97, §1; am L 1965, c 228, §1; HRS §70-111; ren L 1988, c 263, §7] Cross References Waiver of exemption, see §46-74.