Template:Refimprove Template:Infobox U.S. County
HawaiTemplate:Okinai County is a county located in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Hawaiian Islands. It is coterminous with the [[Hawaii (island)|Island of HawaiTemplate:Okinai]], often called the "Big Island" to distinguish it from the state as a whole. As of the 2010 Census the population was 185,079. The county seat is Hilo. There are no incorporated cities in HawaiTemplate:Okinai County (see Hawaii Counties). The Hilo Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of HawaiTemplate:Okinai County. HawaiTemplate:Okinai County has a mayor-council form of government.
Hawaii County is one of seven US counties to share its name with its state (the others are Arkansas County, Idaho County, Iowa County, New York County, Oklahoma County, and Utah County).
Geography[]
HawaiTemplate:Okinai County has a total area of Template:Convert; Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert is water[1] (mostly all off the ocean shoreline but counted in the total area by the U.S. Census Bureau). The county's land area comprises 62.7 percent of the state's land area. It is the highest percentage by any county in the United States. (Delaware's Sussex County comes in second at 48.0 percent, while Rhode Island's Providence County is third at 39.55 percent.)
Adjacent counties[]
- Maui County - northwest
Government and infrastructure[]
County government[]
Executive authority is vested in the Mayor of Hawaii County who is elected for a four-year term. Since 2004, the election by the voters has been on a non-partisan basis. In 2008, William "Billy" Kenoi was elected Mayor, succeeding Harry Kim who had served a two-term limit.[2] Legislative authority is vested in a nine-member County Council. Each member represents a geographical region of the island, which closely correlates to one of the nine tax map districts of HawaiTemplate:Okinai County. Members of the County Council are elected on a non-partisan basis to two-year terms, with the latest election occurring in November 2010.
Administrative districts were originally based on the traditional land divisions called Moku of Ancient Hawaii. Some of the more heavily populated districts have since been split into North and South districts to make them more comparable on a population basis.
The number following each district is the Tax Map Key (TMK) number, used to locate state property information. They are assigned in a counter-clockwise order beginning on the eastern side of the island.[3]
| Nr. | District | Area mi² |
Population 2000 |
moku | Map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Puna | 499.45 | 31335 | Puna | District subdivision of Hawaii County |
| 2 | South Hilo | 394.38 | 47386 | Hilo | |
| 3 | North Hilo | 370.65 | 1720 | Hilo | |
| 4 | Hāmākua | 580.50 | 6108 | Hāmākua | |
| 5 | North Kohala | 132.92 | 6038 | Kohala | |
| 6 | South Kohala | 351.72 | 13131 | Kohala | |
| 7 | North Kona | 489.01 | 28543 | Kona | |
| 8 | South Kona | 335.38 | 8589 | Kona | |
| 9 | [[Kaʻū (Hawaiʻi)|KaTemplate:Okinaū]] | 922.22 | 5827 | Kaʻū | |
| Hawaiʻi County | 4028.02 | 148677 | 6 moku |
County council districts do not directly match the property tax districts because of the variation in the population density of voters in urban areas to rural areas; Hilo & Kailua (Kailua-Kona) towns are densely populated areas, while other districts such as KaTemplate:Okinaū, Puna, Hāmakua, and North & South Kohala are more sparsely populated.[4]
Several government functions are administered at the county level that are at the state or municipal level in other states. For example, the county has its own office of liquor control.<ref>Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Hawaii County: 2000
- ↑ Template:Cite web