Waldoboro Town Manager Julie Keizer makes a good point in the article “Waldoboro selectmen OK funds for paving at Pine Street Landing” on page 4.
In response to comments on social media (always a fount of wisdom), Keizer said a recent tax increase was the result, not of some spending spree by Keizer and the Waldoboro Board of Selectmen, but of the first year of payments on a $25 million bond to build a new vocational school in Rockland.
We looked it up. The vote on the bond issue was 1,680-1,064. Not close.
The same issue extends to every town.
We shake our heads ever time voters wring their hands over a $1,000 donation to a worthy charity or a modest raise for a hardworking town employee, yet fail to show up for a vote on the multimillion-dollar school budget.
Folks, you have to pay attention.
You are responsible for every dollar of your own tax bill.
Our local town governments are democracies – unlike our nation, a democratic republic.
Your school board cannot spend so much as a penny without your say-so.
Back to Waldoboro.
We, too, read many comments on social media in response to a recent article in this newspaper about the need to replace Waldoboro’s 37-year-old ladder truck.
Many of these “thoughtful” and “well-researched” comments, which were “definitely not” typed breathlessly after reading a headline or, better yet, the comment of a stranger who read the headline, failed to recognize a key facet of the article.
If these “responsible citizens” had taken the time to read and understand the article, they would have realized that the town has waited to propose this significant investment until it could do so without a resulting tax increase.
“The mil rate won’t see an increase and that is something (Fire Chief Paul Smeltzer) needs to be congratulated for, because he thought ahead,” Keizer said in the article.
That’s good planning.
That’s fiscal discipline.
Waldoboro town officials deserve credit for their careful consideration of this issue rather than misplaced blame for executing the mandate of voters on an unrelated subject.
