“Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut save you thirty cents?”
Peg Bracken, American author

My wife and I have discussed the idea of moving to Georgia or possibly a neighboring state for several years. After this exceeding hot summer we all have experienced this year, the idea of moving south has cooled right to the point of being an ice age. Nowadays, it’s not only the hot temperatures that the southern states suffer through, it’s the wonderful myriad of the mosquito-borne diseases invading those areas as well. Unfortunately, it might not even be that long before diseases like Zika, chikungunya and dengue fever hit all of the United States. However, that doesn’t mean that we will live forever in Windham, or even Maine for that matter, although it’s sad to state such a thing.

We decided to live in Windham because of its location as well as having a decent shopping center that more than met our needs. It has things that both of us enjoy, and at the time everything appeared to be affordable. What we didn’t plan for was the uncontrolled growth, especially in the residential areas. We were looking to avoid heavy traffic and especially traffic jams. The way this area of Maine is experiencing growth, it won’t be long before every intersection is either a four-way stop or contains a rotary of one size or another. Those are probably better alternatives than traffic lights, because one has no problem witnessing so many color blind drivers.

But the biggest point that I want to make is all of the growth and its substantial associated costs will more than likely make us look elsewhere to live. It’s not that we can’t afford to live in Windham at the present time, but as taxes at the state, county and local levels increase (only God knows what the federal government is going to do to us), we want to live to enjoy life. The true shame is I have witnessed far too many lifetime residents of Windham leave town because they can no longer afford to live here.

Growth comes at a cost not all of us can afford. Yes, our roads are adequately cleared in the snow season, and we have excellent fire and police departments. Our town hall is now open five days a week after a disastrous attempt to keep it open only four week days. Other than that, I only hear numerous complaints about one of our municipal departments, and that more than likely will be coming to a head in the near future. But things that we don’t have in Windham, like bulky waste or a transfer station, make me wonder where the money does go. Especially since the town manager and town councilors, when needing several hundred thousand dollars to make up a shortfall, always seem to find the money in the present fiscal year budget. I wish I could do that paycheck to paycheck.

What is worrisome to me is when I read a recent news article and learn that the RSU-14 school committee wants a new middle school and it looks like there could be a property tax increase of over $400 a year for a home appraised at $250,000. At the same time, the town manager is still pushing for a new public works facility with a cost of over $8 million. Then there’s the talk of beautifying the North Windham business district, which will cost tens of millions of more tax dollars. Those increases do not include the usual annual increases in the school and municipal budgets, not to mention the state and county tax increases.

I know one thing for sure at this point. I will no longer support any candidate at any level of government that wants to spend my money more than I do. That will certainly keep many candidates from knocking on my door, which is absolutely fine with me. It looks like a rough election.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham has money that only says goodbye.