Remember those words. It’s what led to the Palesky tax referendum. It’s what led to the Maine Municipal Association’s tax referendum.

Palesky might have passed if it didn’t have to compete with MMA’s bill and the Governor’s bill. (Although I believe there were problems with the Palesky bill.) But MMA’s bill did win that vote. And, because it was a three-way vote, it had to go back out to the people again and won again.

Then on to the Legislature and the Governor who implemented LD1. Part of LD1 was written to give property tax relief through increased school funding.

School Administrative District 6 (SAD 6) received $3 million in increased funding from the state. I, and many others, mistakenly believed that would mean the school assessment to the five towns within SAD 6, which includes Standish, would go down from the previous year’s assessment.

SAD 6 chose to use all that increased funding with no property tax relief to Standish taxpayers. In fact, Standish’s assessment will go up $62,000. Hollis, Limington and Buxton will get a small reduction in their school assessment, but if the vote of the people and LD1 had been followed, as I believe it was intended, those three towns should have received a larger tax break. In fact, the majority of the Directors on the SAD 6 Board representing Standish voted against the budget.

As a result of the proposed SAD 6 budget, I sponsored a Resolution before the Standish Town Council opposing the SAD 6 budget and urging Standish voters to vote no at the June 14 election. This Resolution received unanimous approval from the Council.

Standish’s tax rate is going down. Not because of SAD 6 but because of a fiscally responsible town government. I believe we can continue to offer quality education while considering the burden on the property owner.

It seems it is up to us, the taxpayers, to go again to the polls and through our votes send the message that we want property tax relief.