Attention Ludlow voters

To the editor:
    FACT: Property taxes in Ludlow did not increase for 2012.
    FACT: Property taxes in Houlton and within the SAD 29 (Houlton) district were increased in 2012.
    FACT: SAD 70 (Hodgdon) increased their budget by $40,000 for the 2012-13 school year.
    FACT: SAD 29 increased their budget by $440,000 for the 2012-13 school year.
    FACT: SAD 70 is a debt-free school.
    FACT: SAD 29 has at least two outstanding loans. SAD 29 does not have a surplus of money. The extra money is from loans that are now due — thus a debt, not a surplus. Ludlow will take on SAD 29’s debt if voted into that district.
    FACT: SAD 29 has several renovation projects that include the auditorium, cafeteria and band room with an estimated cost of $2 million. A new elementary school is needed but no projected cost was given.
    FACT: Currently there are 80 school-age children in Ludlow. There are 47 currently attending SAD 70, 11 are currently attending SAD 29 and SAD 70 with superintendent’s agreements. The remaining 22 students are home-schooled or attend the Greater Houlton Christian Academy.
    FACT: Superintendent of SAD 70 and superintendent of SAD 29 are open to an agreement that will allow the children whose parents choose to send their children to attend SAD 29 without the town of Ludlow withdrawing from SAD 70.
    FACT: If Ludlow does withdraw and is rejected by SAD 29 district, Ludlow may become a “stand alone” community which would require hiring a superintendent, a special education director, a business manager, an attorney specializing in educational law and paying for transportation and a transportation director. Ludlow would also be responsible for administration cost for a school board, superintendent and education director. Ludlow will have to provide insurance for the district.
    FACT: The school budget number for the next school year 2013-14 will not be available until the spring from either district to prove any money could be saved at all.
    FACT: When a resident asked the select board and the town manager at the informational town meeting, held on 10/16/12, who calculated the numbers for this supposed savings that range from $43,000 to $78,000, that a lot of residents from the town of Ludlow have been hearing and how it came to the attention of the town manager, the select board and the town of Ludlow’s school board representative/director could not answer, nor could they provide any documentation that was provided as a verbal accounting to the people that signed the petition. No evidence has been provided to show there will be a savings. In actuality, the only evidence provided shows that there could definitely be an increase in the cost to send students to Houlton; a tremendous increase putting the tax burden on the backs of Ludlow residents.
    FACT: The town manager, Diane Hines, is basing the savings of $78,000, a dollar amount that was given to her by former SAD 29 interim Superintendent Ray Freve. This information was printed in the local newspaper The Houlton Pioneer Times in the Oct. 24, 2012 edition. This information appears in the local paper a week after the question was asked, but was not known at the time of the informational meeting.
    QUESTION: How many years ago was interim Superintendent Ray Freve in office for SAD 29 and who makes a budget plan for the present on numbers from years past?
Cindy Reeves
Brandy Peabody
Katrina Carmichael
Leonard and Cheryl Carmichael
Jack Henson
Melissa and Dave Berube
Gina Von Wylder