(BIVN) – Property valuation rose over 6% percent in one year, Hawaii County finance officials say.

Hawaii County Council members had a chance to discuss the numbers with department heads during Tuesday’s Finance Committee meeting in Hilo.

Property taxes are the hot topic in local government right now, as the Big Island is considering raising property tax rates in order to balance the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2017-2018.

According to Finance Director Collins Tomei, the total value of net taxable real property is nearly $30.5 billion dollars ($30,456,654,447 to be exact).

This amount is $1,782,770,268 higher than the previous year, Tomei reported. “This represents an 6.22 percent increase compared to the previous tax year,” he told the council.

Tomei wrote that the estimated gross value of new residential construction is $455,632,500 and commercial construction is $41,712,600.

A total of 170 appeals were filed, Tomei said, as compared to 362 appeals in the previous year. The amount in dispute is $93,448,306 compared to $ 180,711,443 in the previous year.

During its April meeting in Hilo the finance department presented a request for a new software to make the valuation process more timely.