Waldo selectmen: Don’t blame us, Baldacci

BELFAST – Public officials from across Waldo County have sent an angry letter to Gov. John Baldacci, blasting what they say is his suggestion that small towns are to blame for the state’s financial woes.

The letter, mailed Wednesday by the Waldo County Selectmen’s Association, takes issue with the governor’s proposed municipal services districts and some of his statements about the management practices of small towns.

The association challenges a suggestion that small towns are to blame for high property taxes. The Belfast City Council also has endorsed the association’s letter to Baldacci.

Baldacci has proposed creation of regional municipal services districts as a way to manage dwindling resources and to share services.

The selectmen who signed the letter say they believe that large bodies of government, such as the state, county and school districts, are responsible for many of the woes the towns have to cope with. Service areas would add to that mix, they argue.

“I can’t believe a person in [Baldacci’s] position would be so publicly critical of small towns,” said First Selectman Kathy Littlefield of Waldo. “To say we can’t manage our money is ludicrous. We are the ones that end up having to cut our budgets to make up for what the state is taking away. I think a lot of his thoughts on this have problems.”

A spokesman for Baldacci said Wednesday afternoon that the Governor’s Office has not seen the letter. The spokesman declined immediate comment.

The selectmen’s association was formed earlier this year and meets once a month at the Waldo town office. Littlefield said the group shares information on a wide range of issues and keeps close tabs on the comings and goings of county government.

Representatives of 12 of Waldo County’s other 25 municipalities signed the letter. Elected officials from Waldo, Brooks, Freedom, Thorndike, Belmont, Searsmont, Jackson, Swanville, Searsport, Winterport, Montville and Liberty signed the letter. Littlefield said she hopes other communities across the state would join in the protest. She said those signing the letter expressed their feelings as municipal officers, not on behalf of their entire communities.

In their letter, the officials warn that the establishment of regional service districts would erode local control through the town meeting process and add another layer of bureaucracy. They noted that local residents with a problem can approach their individual selectmen. In a district, they would be forced to drive many miles to speak to a regional administrator in person.

“Bigger is rarely better, it is less efficient and more costly, and more difficult to operate,” the officials state in their letter.

The officials also express concern that the governor and state legislators have “an apparent lack of understanding” of the ways of small town governance.

While conceding that the state and large cities may be able to buy items at a lower cost, they contend that the argument overlooks the added cost of having to hire personnel to achieve those savings. As to sharing services, such as fire departments, the officials reminded the governor that towns have been working under mutual-aid agreements for years.

“You must remember that the small towns can’t use the excuse that state government uses – one legislature is not bound by the actions of another – and then renege on promise after promise after promise,” the officials wrote the governor.

They also pointed out in their letter that Maine towns are “paying dearly” for roads the state promised to maintain and then shifted back to the towns. They noted that the cost of education and the care of prisoners were also transferred to the towns and counties.

“You said that the high property taxes are happening because small towns can’t manage their money, and this is the biggest laugh of all because if any research had been done, you would know that the small towns are the only form of government that consistently cuts their budgets year after year,” the officials state in their letter.

Littlefield said association members want “no part” of the services district idea and they take exception to speeches and comments that imply that small towns are “inept, incapable of managing money and just plain stupid.”

The officials acknowledged a need to stretch dollars to temper out of control state, school and county budgets.

“The only way we can do it is by stretching our dollars as far as we can, because although the buck should stop at the governor’s office, it doesn’t, it stops at the selectmen’s door and it is us that have to look our fellow citizens in the eye and answer their questions.”