Today is the deadline for Honolulu property owners to file for exemptions that can lower the amount of property tax homeowners must pay.

Gary Kurokawa, administrator of the city's real property assessment division, said yesterday that thousands of people have called city offices in the past two months after a recent series of public meetings and Advertiser stories revealed that hundreds of homeowners do not claim the exemptions due them.

Kurokawa said some people haven't filed for the basic homeowner's exemption; others don't have a birthdate on file so they don't get age-related exemptions or lack other key information.

"A lot of people, after the spouse dies, they lose the exemption," he said.

As of last year, more than 134,000 people had claimed an exemption in Honolulu. City officials said they have no way of knowing how many of the nearly 110,000 other property owners — about 243,000 total — might qualify for exemptions.

City budget and fiscal services director Mary Pat Waterhouse said the offices got so many calls that the lines were at times overwhelmed. She said they now are working to improve the phone system so that residents won't be frustrated when they call for information.

Homeowners rattled by this year's higher property tax bills are looking for ways to bring those bills down, and some are finding that they could have saved money by applying for various exemptions: homeowner /occupant, 55 and older, blind, disabled veteran, even one for those who replace their cesspools with septic tanks.

Kurokawa said the exemptions must be filed by the end of business today at city assessment offices or Satellite City Halls or postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service by midnight tonight.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.