To the editor:
Poor relationships between seasonal camp owners and Orient residents perceived by Town Clerk Alicia Silkey and reported by Joseph Cyr in a front-page story in the Aug. 15 edition of the Houlton Pioneer Times are not the actual causes of tensions in the town of Orient. Nor are the tax examples that Ms. Silkey cited to support her assertions. Her examples were both misleading and incorrect. As I have noted many times before, the long-existing problems of mismanagement by town officials that siphon away tax funds without oversight, are the actual and only reasons for poor relationships in Orient.
Unfortunately, Silkey, an influential member of town government, was the only person interviewed and quoted by reporter Cyr. Her opinions were the only input in the story. The Houlton Pioneer Times has pledged to report the news without bias. I respectfully request this letter and the facts it discloses will be published to show the complete and more honestly accurate picture.
Ms. Silkey states Orient taxes took a jump last year when the mill rate was set at 12.10 mills, a major increase over the 2010 tax rate of 7.4 mills. She attributed the increase to a number of factors including loss of state revenue along with increased heating and fuel costs. These reasons are false and incorrect. The actual facts are in 2011 state municipal revenue sharing for Orient was only $1,361.25 less in 2011 than 2010.
She also stated Orient had to take out tax anticipation notes to cover municipal expenses because many taxpayers were late in paying their taxes as well as liens on properties have also increased dramatically in recent years to nearly 30 in 2010. During the year 2010-11, 25 of those late taxpayers owed back taxes of less than $200 and the total amount of late taxes as of June 30 was $14,219.27. Furnace maintenance was only $131 in 2010 and “0” in 2011. Town office fuel costs in 2010 were $2255.25. The next year 2011 there was an increase of only $173.79.
These figures clearly show that blame for drastic tax increases (up 75 percent in 2008 and a whopping 93 percent in 2011) cannot be charged to late taxes, loss of state revenues, or increased heating and fuel costs. Blame is squarely on the shoulders of all elected municipal officials that have mismanaged Orient’s government during the last decade.
Participation in town matters by citizens is rendered near impossible by the ruling Selectmen. As recently as this summer, the Board refused to allow public comment during a critical Selectmen’s meeting. At one of those meetings, it was discovered the Selectmen had taken funds illegally from the Orient education account and spent it on the transfer station. As a result, the taxpayers were informed by Terry Silkey the Selectmen needed $70,000 for a tuition bill owed and wanted to borrow $75,000 to pay last year’s bills. Selectmen Silkey and Alexander then voted to borrow the money.
State regulations require special town meetings be called when funds exceeding those voted for by the town are needed. And further, it is illegal to use education funds for anything but education purposes as it is a designated fund. Silkey and Alexander should be under investigation concerning this matter.
Two better examples as to why the Orient mill rate has jumped significantly because of our elected officials’ unethical procedures are:
• Five applications were received in 2003 for a vacant treasurer/ tax collector position. All job applications were discarded in the town’s wastebasket. One applicant had a degree in accounting from the University of Maine with an excellent resume. That application was removed from the wastebasket by me when I served as First Selectman of Orient. The Selectmen then moved to spend $2,500 in unapproved town funds for unauthorized training of Alicia Silkey to help manage Orient’s town government. In 2004, Alicia Silkey’s first year in office as town clerk, Treasurer/Tax Collector, the audit reveals the administration is overdrawn $6,334; 2005 the administration is overdrawn $9,460; 2006, general government is overdrawn $1,916; 2007, general government is overdrawn $8,246; 2008 Alicia Silkey’s salary is overdrawn $4,250, taxes increase 75 percent and overdrafts climb to $72,394 since 2004.
At a Selectmen’s meeting on Nov. 11, 2008, one of my questions about the 2008 audit was for an explanation as to why the Town Clerk Treasurer/Tax Collector salary was overdrawn $4,250. $23,600 was legally raised to pay Ms. Silkey by the town voters. However, an amount greater than authorized, $27,850, was actually withdrawn for those positions which is a violation of 30-A.M.R.S.A. J. 2603 which states the Town Clerk must pay an assistant unless the municipality has raised the money for those positions. I asked Town Clerk Silkey to explain the overdraft. Her answer was, “David, that was not me and you would better understand if you went back to high school and furthered your education.”
In 2009, general government is overdrawn $2,729.39; 2010, general government is overdrawn $8,533.27, salaries overdrawn ($4112.30). Overdrafts 2004-10 now total a shocking amount of $92,049.84 by June 30, 2010.
• Another reason why the mill rate has jumped is Orient’s revaluation which has been costly. Not including assessment services, a lengthy and unnecessary revaluation process which started as early as 2005 will, by the summer of 2013, cost Orient taxpayers $69,250 which has already increased valuation to over $21 million and driven Orient’s county tax up $21,416, and is expected to go higher. This total revaluation package by 2013 will more than likely cost the Orient taxpayers $100,000 or more. A lot of money for measuring and, in some cases, looking inside your camp.
According to the Houlton Pioneer Times’ Aug. 15 article, Alicia Silkey said tempers have been flaring in town to a point where a police officer had to be called in to restore order at the last Selectman’s meeting. Although we were told that there would be no public comment time while the Selectmen reviewed the warrants for the upcoming, a senior citizen well over 80 years old asked if he could see a copy of the warrants the Selectmen were going to discuss. Town Clerk Silkey very abruptly told the senior citizen to turn his hearing aid up. No copies of warrants were ever passed out to senior citizens or anyone. The only one out of order at the last Selectmen’s meeting when the sheriff was there, to me, was Alicia Silkey herself because she was rude to a citizen.
Simply put, all conflicts in Orient are at this time between a few voters who elected our town officials versus just about everyone else. For several decades, 92 percent of Orient’s tax dollars have come from non-residents and most of the rest have come from a few substantial taxpayers who do not live on the lakefront. It is time for both residents and non-residents who want lower taxes to get together and take action.
With the drastic fluctuation in property values throughout Maine, it is critical that non-resident taxpayers have a voice in the tax burden placed on their properties located within a specific municipality. Maine needs a law that has already been adopted by ten other states which already allows non-resident property owners to vote on municipal budget matters which will make better government for all.
If non-resident students attending our colleges are allowed to register and vote in the elections for local officials, non-residents who pay significant taxes in a town such as Orient should be allowed to vote on the budget.
“Taxation without representation” was one of the reasons for our Declaration of Independence from England.
David H. Peabody
First selectman 2000-03
Orient
