When your town or school borrows money, your home and your property become the collateral.  If you cannot afford your property taxes you lose your home.  It takes only two years.   

On May 15, a handful of people will show up at the Hope Elementary School to vote yea or nay on the budget.  This budget includes a 20-year "lease" for a new roof and windows. 

There will be interest, potentially management fees, and legal obligations but the board, despite not knowing any of these details, thinks that this is a good idea.  The Five Towns High School board will also be leasing repairs and improvements to the high school building.

 Debt repayment comes before local priorities. While these arrangements are often marketed as “fiscally responsible” or “necessary investments,” the underlying financial mechanisms and legal obligations they create are anything but benign.

At their core, they involve using the property of local citizens — secured through the town’s taxing authority — as collateral to obtain loans. In many cases, these debts are incurred with limited transparency, little public deliberation, and without fully informed voter consent.

How much debt can 670 households afford?

Why didn't the town set aside some money every year for building maintenance?

Where is the transparency?

Would you support requiring a 75% majority vote on all public debt?

This may be our last opportunity to meet as a town with the school board to review and vote on their budget.   LD 1579, “An Act to Abolish School Budget Referenda,” is currently on the floor and is co-sponsored by five legislators.  The public hearing was held on April 30. The work session is scheduled for May 9.  Click on this link for more information. https://legislature.maine.gov/billtracker/#Paper/HP1037?legislature=132

Crystal Robinson, writing as a citizen of Hope and NOT in my capacity as a Hope Select Board Member, lives in Hope