Bar Harbor received more than $10 million in sales from the 70-plus cruise ships last summer, and hopes to improve on that this year (BDN, April 8). In December 1999, Bar Harbor sought $20,000 from the state Department of Transportation to help the community deal with all those cruise ships (50-plus at that time), which I undercalculated at the time would bring Bar Harbor more than $3 million in sales.

If the state actually provided the $20,000 funding (I didn’t see any report either way), perhaps Maine taxpayers should require a surtax on Bar Harbor sales to help Maine deal with all that sales tax revenue pouring in from Bar Harbor.

Robert Godfrey

Eastport