To the editor:
Several times over the past month I’ve considered writing this letter. However, I remembered the good advice that mothers have always given their kids “if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.” Well as she’d tell you, I didn’t always listen to my own mom and I guess this is going to be one of those times.
The Feb. 3 article “Council raises permit fees, ponders rec center charges” article included a quote from a city councilman that suggested without charging user fees to non-residents, PI would be “subsidizing lower taxes in Mapleton.” As a resident of Mapleton who has experienced user fees first-hand, I feel compelled to respond.
I was going to address this when we enrolled my son in the rec basketball program in Presque Isle this year but had decided to “say nothing at all.” We were quite surprised to find that the fee was $25 (resident fee) plus an additional $50 for being from outside of Presque Isle. Now to some $75 is just a dinner for one. To others it’s dinner for their family for a week.
I can understand an extra charge for a non-resident but I’d define three times the PI resident fee as price gouging at its best. I guess that’s what was meant by Mapleton being subsidized by Presque Isle.
In Mapleton we don’t have rec basketball but we do have a very good Little League program. It’s so good in fact that close to, if not over 50 percent of the kids participating are from Presque Isle. Maybe the PI City Council should take note that the resident fee in Mapleton is $30 and the non-resident fee is only $45. That is for a three month program not a 6-week program like basketball. Maybe that’s the subsidy we’re getting from Presque Isle?
Just this week it was pointed out to me that the pool has been removed from the plans for the new PI Community Center. Very unfortunate for all of the kids in Presque Isle considering that just a couple years ago they had two pools to choose from. Well, I guess they can go to the UMPI pool for a fee or they can do what most of them did last year. They can go to Mapleton to use the small community pool there for free. A pool which I believe is also in need of work which will be paid for by the taxpayers in Mapleton, Chapman and Castle Hill. Hmm, must be another subsidy we’re getting from Presque Isle.
Well, I guess I’m in this far so I might as well go ahead and stand up for the elderly too. The idea that you would charge a fee for an elderly person to use the center is just offensive. Whether they are from Presque Isle or not, many are on a fixed income — a very small fixed income. Many rarely get out and a trip to see old friends at a Senior Center is the highlight of their week. Thinking about how they will be able to pay to get in to see those friends and have a few hours of interaction should not be a concern. It should especially not be a concern to someone who has spent a lifetime living and working in Aroostook County and yet struggles to heat their home and have enough left to buy something to eat. You’ve built a beautiful facility that could do a lot of good. Don’t make the elderly subsidize it.
Now maybe I should have listened to that wise motherly advice and not said anything. I’m sorry, but it’s not in my character to stay silent when things are not fair or misrepresented. It was not the citizens of Mapleton, Chapman or Castle Hill who wanted a new Community Center. It was not the elderly who have paid taxes for their entire lives. It also wasn’t the general population of Presque Isle who decided to build such an extravagant facility. Maybe the time to decide how operational expenses would be funded was prior to it being constructed.
Matt Farnham
Mapleton
