Ludlow board is doing an excellent job

To the editor:
    This letter is in support of the attentive mission that the Ludlow Select Board, school board representative and town manager have been doing in the town of Ludlow. The deprecatory letter published Oct. 31, 2012, on your Houlton Region Opinion page by Cindy Reeves et al. was unmerited.
    Four years ago our town records were secured by state officials and were under investigation for illicit activity. I clearly remember the need to go to nearby towns to conduct Ludlow town business during this period. It is our current Select Board, school board representative and town manager who brought order and repair to the botched town records. It is troublesome to see these honest, hard-working town officials maliciously defamed.
    I have no intention to rebut each of the so-called “facts,” other than to say they are told mostly on a slant. Let me give two examples: 1.) Granted the property taxes in the town of Ludlow did not increase for 2012, however, the main reason for this had nothing to do with the schools. Taxes stayed stable because of outstanding “due diligence” by Ludlow’s excellent town manager and Select Board. They have contained increases to an acceptable amount through the bidding process. In contrast to past practice, the bidding process in Ludlow is open and transparent. 2.) The quote that SAD 70 (Hodgdon) increased their budget by $40,000 for the 2012 school year does not square with the $85,061 given on the last line of the table presented on page 9 of the MSAD 70 school budget, 2012-13.
    Other information given in the Oct. 31 letter is premature and/or does not honor the withdrawal process presented in 20-A § 1466 Withdrawal of a Single Municipality from a Regional School Unit.
    I stand in unequivocal support of our Select Board, school board representative and town manager, and the excellent job they are doing currently and have done in the past for the town of Ludlow.
Dr. W. S. White
Ludlow