Editor:

    I am writing to try to encourage as many people as
possible to take a long, hard look at any and all bond issues that will
be on our state and local ballots this year.

    There are bond proposals on the ballot that should be and are a part of the yearly budget.

    For instance, paving the roads. Since when is paving
a bond issue? It is a yearly cost and therefore is and should be
considered part of the budget. The money should be in the budget but if
you look at the adopted budget no money was even requested for paving.

    There is $165,000 in overtime that was requested and
approved for people to work on the roads but no money for the paving.

    If you look at the current ballot you will see that
there was $500,000 approved in bond borrowing to pay for paving that
was not issued and yet we owe $115,000 in interest on it.

    This is a sort of shell game. Moving money from one
department to another or from one project to another and then conning
the taxpayers of South Portland into voting for more money for the
council to spend.

    No wonder we can’t afford a few more cops.

    Using the paving bond as an example, let’s look at the actual cost.

    When you look at the ballot and the initial proposal
of $500,000 you may think that that’s not too bad. But take another
look. With interest we will be paying more in the neighborhood of
$615,000. Now add that to our current debt load and this town owes a
lot of money! Actually, the city of South Portland currently owes over
$30,000,000 in bond debt. That’s a lot no matter which town or city you
are. I remind everyone that our town has a population of only 22,000.

    This is the kind of shenanigans we have been getting
from our current city council. They have spent money on counseling so
they can get along better. We the taxpayers should not be paying for
counseling for the members of the council. If they are in need of
counseling, they should be paying for it themselves.

    We need to vote in as many new council members as we
can. We need to vote for people who have business experience and/or are
fiscally responsible. We need people who do not see other people’s
money as a license for a free for all spending spree. We need people on
the council who will not fall for every “feel good” spending
opportunity that comes along. We all like to help our charities for
instance but you can’t say, “Yes” to all of them. You have to say “No”
to most as a matter of fact.

    We need to vote “No” on spending bonds. We need to
get our city’s financial house in order before we even look at spending
any more.

    Take a look at the agendas for the past year. How
many spending opportunities do you see that were voted down? Hmmmmm…….

    Let’s work to change our council and while we’re at
it vote for people who will represent us at the state level with fiscal
responsibility and who will work to keep our right to pursue life and
liberty.

Kandi-Lee Hoy

South Portland