Caribou spending isn’t based in reality

To the editor:
    On the subject of the city of Caribou municipal growth rate of 4.1 percent annually compared to the national average of 2.6 percent, this says it all and proves that the only thing growing in Caribou is the size of municipal government. The business base isn’t, the job base isn’t, and housing starts are not either.     Municipal burden is the only thing growing in Caribou. I believe that we the taxpayers need to reverse this by demanding our elected officials lay out a fiscal plan to methodically reduce the city government over a period of time into a streamlined, well-organized business, by looking at subcontracting some of our services out, down-sizing our union and non-union employee base and reducing some of our department sizes and let the private sectors grow all it can. This is what will benefit all of the Caribou taxpayers.
    Nothing good has or will come from the city of Caribou being the largest employer. Just look at our current valuations/mil rate as proof of this. We need to shift these jobs into the private sector. This is not an unreachable goal. Some on the city council seem to want and support bloating the local government at the taxpayers’ expense, and I believe that the majority of the taxpayers do not.
    As we all know in the private sector, the issue of job retention and growth is a self-leveling situation; when the economy heats up too much there is job/growth reduction nationally and when things start to cool down, the jobs come back with more growth above them. Now let’s compare the Caribou municipal government, keeping in mind that things in the economy are still very hot, but jobs and municipal size never self-level, they do one thing, increase along with the wages and benefit packages. There is no adjusting to meet the temperature of the local economy; it’s just more, more, more. Nowhere in the private sector does this happen.
    I recently read a comment in the Bangor Daily News from Dana Connors, president of Maine Chamber of Commerce that I believe we should apply to the Caribou municipality, and I quote, “Perhaps we have outgrown the ability to finance the services provided.”
    More proof of this comes from looking at the EPS funding of 55 percent to the Caribou school department. This was intended to lower the property tax burden in Caribou, but where did the 07/08 increase of $1.2 million go? Just look at this – $675,500 in teacher salary increases, $221,600 in teacher benefits packages, teacher course reimbursement of $20,300, not to mention the 06/07 increase of EPS funding to the Caribou school department of approximately $900,000. Wow, and I thought that the majority of it was spent on the children’s needs and tools.
    So as Caribou taxpayers, let’s stand back and look at the overall direction of the city’s growth, let’s consider those on the city council — “our elected officials” — and what they are doing to try and slow the rate of unnecessary, bloated growth in our municipal government that burdens all taxpayers. I personally see a huge divide, with only two members fighting tooth and nail to prevent it.
Freeman Cote
Caribou