Editor:

    Recently you the taxpayer/homeowner received in the mail a questionnaire asking you four questions on how many million dollars you are willing to spend on secondary schools.

   My answer is not one cent until the school department starts to answer some questions on how the money was spent and the rest of the budget is to be spent.

   How about telling us, the taxpayer, where the maintenance department is spending the extra $2 million that he got for miscellaneous work.

   Some of the homeowners are struggling to pay for their house because of no work and others live on fixed incomes – and the school wants $50 million plus interest bond.

   For eight schools there was a budget for over $2 million for administration, which equals about $265,000 per school. How many people are employed as administrators and how much are they being paid?

   The business office was over $2,292. How many people are working in that office?

   What I see is a lot of overhead that should be cut, cut, cut.

   Who is sitting on this committee? Are they homeowners? Are they living here in South Portland? 

   If you’re not a homeowner you do not belong on this committee.

   If they do not live here in South Portland then they do not belong on a committee trying to on the taxpayers for a bond issue. 

   Show the taxpayer what has to be repaired and the cost and not the con job under miscellaneous of a couple million dollars, then maybe we’ll listen.

   Every taxpayer knows how the schools work. They get their raises every year whether they do a good job or not. Last year the government’s cost of living was 1.8 percent. The school got 4 percent. Who’s trying to help the city while everyone is losing their income?

   Why are the administrators’ insurance being paid by the city? They are not teachers or in the teachers union? Is this another perk that we the taxpayers pay for that the school department cons the taxpayers? 

   Cape Elizabeth put a freeze on their budget and it’s time South Portland does the same.

Richard C. Campbell

South Portland