Editor:
Such a sad commentary on voter interest in Kennebunk! On May 20 only 800 people bothered to vote for a $29 million-plus school budget. On June 11, about 100 people attended Town Meeting and passed everything under and over the cap. As a result of these two votes, the tax increase you will see and will feel in your own budget is approximately $13.90 per one thousand dollars of the assessed value of your home. Almost all of the budget items passed “over the cap” adding to our tax base, and the following year the tax base starts that much higher. This means even more of your money can be spent next year. Such apathy is dangerous because you are allowing others to decide how your money should be spent. This apathy is exactly the cause of bigger and more expensive government, whether municipal, state or federal. As governments get bigger, with our help through inattention, these governments get hungrier and hungrier for more of your tax dollars. At the recent Town Meeting your tax dollars in the amount of $24,000 went to subsidize a private enterprise – the Shoreline Trolley – I don’t believe this is the correct use of public funds.
This is our town, this is our government, this is our money, and we must start to protect all three with our votes before it is too late and we are all taxed way beyond our means.
To all of those who voted on May 20 and on June 10 and 11, I thank you.
Sue Walker
Kennebunk