Sangerville Town Hall at a crossroad 

To the Editor;

As we sit right now, we own the building, no debt. The only thing at cost at present is the utilities cost and the insurance cost for the building.

We do need to talk about needed maintenance cost.  And where to go from here.

It has been said that our maintenance cost on the town hall since 1992 was $450,000.

That is 28 years, and there were 1,256 tax bills sent out this year. Let’s cut that to more then in half and estimate there is 600 individual taxpayers carrying the tax burden,

If each taxpayer paid $2.25 per month multiplied by 600 taxpayers equals $1,350 per month times 12 months for $16,200 times 28 years for $453,600.

Yes we are at a crossroad but we do have choices, we can sit at that stop sign at the cross road for a while and figure out which way we want to go? There is no one on our butts rushing us to go or telling us we must move.

We can take a right and borrow the money with interest, all at once to fix a problem we are told by the insurance companies, professional engineers and big contractors that we need to fix.

Or we can take a left, borrow the money to build a new town office. And do something else with this building,

Or we can keep right on going straight ahead like we have been for the last 28 years. For $2.25 per month per taxpayer for maintenance cost one step at a time as we have in the past. And we can accept the savings we will get from the insurance premiums cost by them cutting our coverage in half.  

The selectboard and town office is doing a great job working their butts off dealing with the insurance companies, cost estimates, professional engineers and big contractors, that brings us to this crossroad. But I do not agree with the  professional engineers’ opinion of the state of the condition of the town hall, and I do think the town hall for the last 28 years has been very cost efficient for the taxpayers, is in very good condition for the most part and will be with us for many more years with the proper maintenance.

Richard R Dobson Sr.    

Sangerville