To the Editor:
The voters of Wiscasset rejected this year’s (RSU 12) budget. Hopefully this will send a message for RSU 12’s next budget.
The State of Maine will be getting less federal monies and Maine should get less federal money. Federal money is what has got us in the fiscal mess we are in today. We need to live within our means.
We need to bring our cost inline with the state average, which is $9663 per student. RSU 12’s per student cost is $11,337. We cannot borrow ourselves into prosperity. History tells us we must save. Any increase is totally unacceptable. Let’s do our homework now and get our fiscal house in order.
Just because the costs incurred by the RSU increases, that does not mean they are guaranteed annual increases to compensate. Last year the taxpayers of Wiscasset incurred increases in property taxes, food, fuel, gas, entertainment and other expenses with little or no increase in income; especially those on a fixed income.
We cannot spend money that we do not have. Let’s take the money we do have and make it work. The days of spending your entire allocated budget so you can get a bigger budget next year are over.
Donald Kelley, Wiscasset