Shared services not the subject at hand

To the Editor:

The Advertiser Democrat chose to minimize the staggering impact on Maine municipalities that would be caused by Governor LePage’s proposed budget cutbacks by agreeing with the governor’s assertion that all the towns need to do is share more services in order to weather this inconvenience.

The good folks at the Advertiser Democrat are running the risk of being caught by the governor’s red herring.

A red herring is a detail or remark inserted into a discussion, in this case intentionally, that sidetracks that discussion. The focus here has to be that this governor has chosen to fix the state’s problems disproportionally on the backs of the towns.

In Norway’s case, the governor already held back $400,000 of bond funds approved by the voters of the State of Maine from the town without conversation or precedent.

In the new budget proposal, Norway citizens lose $250,000 with the elimination of state revenue sharing, changes in the homestead tax exemption cost us over $110,000, loss of personal property tax cost the town $80,000 and Norway increases in SAD #17 will most likely be over $250,000.

Over a million dollars in one year is a lot to demand and at the same time criticize the town for not sharing enough.

Norway shares its code enforcement officer with Greenwood and Woodstock, our animal control officer and health officer with Oxford, Paris and others, our transfer station and general assistance caseworker with Paris, and our recycling program with several other towns. Norway constructed a new parking lot with Norway Savings Bank last summer.

We attempted to combine police services with Paris last year, but I never got the impression that the time was right for them. Many choose to focus the discussion more on that than the several things that have worked.

While I support and will continue to work on sharing municipal costs where it makes sense, it would take a hell of a lot of sharing to make up for an annual loss of a million dollars.

A few years ago the Brookings Institute surveyed the citizens of Maine and found that they trust local government the most and find it the most efficient. When we share services we must be sure we retain the close oversight and active involvement of our citizens that are the reason for that.

The governor says that the towns must tighten their belts. I say the towns should synch up the same number of notches as the state.

David Holt

Town Manager

Norway