Keep pressure on SAD 4

To the Editor:

SAD 4 had its most recent financial subcommittee meeting, its second since the last voter turndown of the budget at referendum.  There has been some progress; the administration invited questions and suggestions from the total board and the interested citizens. Some board members and community members rose to the challenge. A board member did a complete analysis of the increases in expenses, a tremendous effort to get a real look at what is going on.  People from the community also raised concerns and made suggestions.

Most of the above was disregarded as the administration plodded along identifying some very small changes that had all of a sudden popped up. Too little … too late.

The latest changes put the town increases from the last fiscal year in a range of 3.82-6.15 percent. A look at the percentages for the towns since base year 2010 show  increases of 28.51 percent-58.32 percent (down from a high of over 61 percent — not much really), with Parkman once again earning the dubious distinction of being the highest.

The tax bills are out and the foreclosure notices have been sent. The long-term damage is abundantly clear to most people and a very sad reality for those people who face losing their homes. The area is also about to lose a significant number of jobs at the Charleston Youth Facility, which will undoubtedly affect  some people in SAD 4 and the surrounding districts.

The administration has had plenty of options put in front of them from this last meeting which they didn’t incorporate. The problem has been developing over the last number of years and a few small adjustments will not begin to address its magnitude.

Further the blaming of the state is largely misplaced in this argument. The district dropped a large debt service payment two years ago and, instead of putting that aside as budget latitude, they moved it around and spent it, last year and this. Of course, the state did not send a share of the payment … because the state didn’t owe it.

The district continues to lose students, and the state hasn’t sent the money for them … because the state doesn’t owe it.

The increases in the budget have been directly created by local actions and now the previous and current local officials don’t want to admit it. And they certainly don’t want to take the drastic steps and make the difficult decisions that will be required to bring this lack of funds under control. But they must, and I strongly recommend to you that you be active in making that happen.

Attend the meetings, especially those where you have an opportunity to vote by hand or ballot.  Those are where what you think counts the most and they are the only keys to forcing change.

Otherwise it is too little … too late. Keep the pressure on.

Ann Bridge

Parkman