We can cut the state income tax rate significantly and help Maine citizens permanently weatherize and efficiently heat their homes. It starts with our governor, Legislature and ordinary people identifying wasted tax dollars. The office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability needs to work seven days a week and 24 hours a day to identify unnecessary programs and positions: they can find salaried administrators in Augusta who are not working hard enough to improve the state and lower taxes.

We must permanently cut state and municipal energy costs. The governor must immediately dispatch people to find out where heat is escaping in every publicly funded building and seal them up tight. We can better utilize the ASPIRE program to locate and train people on welfare to eliminate leaks in buildings, insulate hot water pipes and install insulation to keep the expensive heat in the buildings. We will train people on welfare to be successful in the workforce while we save money on oil.

For a reasonable price we can purchase outdoor wood boilers with steam turbines to supply public buildings with heat and electricity during fall, winter and spring months. The fuel can be softwood blow downs and wood that, when removed, actually helps the forest grow quicker. Maine has the technology and renewable resources to inexpensively supply heat and electricity to our public buildings. Shifting more tax payer money to oil countries is irresponsible.

Jonathan Walden

Surry