To the editor:
I believe this is an attempt to take pressure off the Houlton Town Council, so that no decision would be made by them to really look into the budget, and make the necessary reductions that are needed in order to fund the roads within the budget process.
The money we put aside for our roads is $250,000. This had been removed from the budget process to fund other things. We receive about $117,000 from the state, and take about $133,000 from within the budget.
This million dollar bond would be for 20 years at about $500,000 in interest. I do not believe we should expect our children and our grandchildren to be responsible for paying back this bond.
We could fund the roads at $250,000 as we did last year, within the budget process, and in four years that million dollar bond would be paid off. That half a million in interest we would also save would fund two more years of road maintenance, basically for free. By doing this over time and not just one year, our public works department would have the time to do a lot of the work, saving us taxpayers even more money.
Bonds may be cheap now, but I believe a plan to reduce the budget is even better. In hard times we should not spend money we do not have. This budget, like most could be reduced, but you have to be willing to work at it.
I believe this Council lacks the responsibility, and just maybe they don’t know how to look at the budget and make the necessary touch decisions regarding our roads. This lack of responsibility is unacceptable to me as a taxpayer. This million dollar bond is a bailout for the Council. Just say ‘No.’ Think about the plan, the benefits speak for themselves.
Carl W. Lord
Houlton
