To the editor:
When a community suffers a decline in population, as Caribou and most other Aroostook County communities have, it creates a very difficult situation. The preferred situation is that of a community growing in size and population. When a community grows, the construction of infrastructure (streets, utilities, etc.) and the provision of services (road maintenance, recreation programs, etc.) are usually playing catch-up with the needs of the increasing population. This means we have more people supporting a proportionately inadequate level of infrastructure and services. When a community loses population, there is now a proportionately abundant level of infrastructure and services that have to be supported by a smaller number of citizens. Communities in this predicament face the difficult task of having to dismantle programs and services that have been around for years that can no longer be afforded.
Many County communities have had to face this difficult situation as the city of Caribou is having to do. If we have 10 or 20 percent fewer citizens, it would be easier if we had a similar decline in the miles of roads and streets to be maintained but we don’t, so what can we do about it? It would be nice if we could encourage the residents of sparsely populated roads to move to more populated roads so their road could be closed and no longer be maintained, but I think that is unlikely to happen.
With fewer taxpayers to carry the cost, the available alternatives are to not maintain the roads as well or find some way or someone else to do the job for a lower cost. Ben Franklin has been credited with saying that whatever government can do, free enterprise can do better and for lower cost. Maybe privatizing some of our municipal tasks should be investigated?
For several years prior to last year, our property taxes at Caribou Rehab and Nursing averaged around $85,000 per year. Last September, our tax bill jumped to $93,000, which was more than an 8 percent increase. I suspect there are probably several reasons behind this but it remains an eye-catching increase, one that I hope doesn’t happen again for a while.
It is for this reason that I support the efforts of Doug Morrell and others like him who are volunteering their personal time to assist Caribou’s city leaders in finding ways to keep the city budget and taxes to only that which the declining number of Caribou citizens can afford. The more people who assist in this effort, the more ideas are brought forward to consider. Nobody likes reducing available services or having to consider things like freezing the wages and benefits of our dedicated municipal employees (as many of us in private business have had to do), but the city of Caribou cannot print its own money like the federal government can. Neither can the state of Maine, which is contributing to the loss of state revenue to our city.
The sad reality is we are all having to do more with less. I wish to personally thank everyone who has contributed their time and efforts to help Caribou through this difficult situation.
Phil Cyr, administrator
Caribou Rehab and Nursing Center
