“It is only a little more.” “It is only the cost of a pizza and a beer.” “The increase is only this $100 bill I am waving.”

I am sick and tired of hearing the “it’s only” phrase from the RSU 21 School Board members and from some of the 25 percent of our Kennebunk population with children in our schools.

Meanwhile, many of the other 75 percent of residents struggle with their budgets and what they must eliminate from their lives because they can no longer afford it.

This “it’s only” phrase has resulted in an ever-growing, bloated school budget of well more than $36 million for a dwindling population of school-age children.

“It’s only” has resulted in overbuilt schools, one known to be poorly constructed, with not enough students to fill the classrooms. Now we are told that a mistake was made in the RSU Charter resulting in a last minute increase in taxes for Kennebunk residents only.

Two little words, “local only,” have caused the increase in school taxes for Kennebunk taxpayers to go from $25 per $100,000 of valuation to $43 per $100,000. This debt service change in the formula between Kennebunkport and Kennebunk was not the intent of the drafters of the RSU charter and certainly not communicated to the voters.

This is not the RSU Charter we approved, and the taxpayers of Kennebunk should not be required to foot the bill for someone else’s mistake.

“It’s only” a matter of $18 or $19 per $100,000 extra for each Kennebunk taxpayer, but it adds up to $324,000 per year for two years. This unnecessary and unreasonable extra burden should be absorbed into the 2010-2011 proposed school budget.

In my opinion, the RSU 21 School Board members are not working for all of the taxpayers, but rather for the 25 percent with chlldren in the schools and for the teachers.

How did we end up with a school budget burden comprising 72 percent of our tax bill and what can we do about it?

This runaway budget was caused by a lot of “it’s only” decisions by school board members past and present, and we can stop it on May 18 by going to Town Hall between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. and voting “No.”

A “No” vote will not harm the education of our children. The schools will continue to run with the current budget until board members learn that you can’t keep adding new expenses without eliminating previous expenses of the same or greater value.

I will vote “No” May 18.

Sue Walker

Kennebunk