Rural vs. townies: Round one
To the editor:
As a taxpayer in Caribou I have watched the machinations of a few citizens who, like all of us, prefer not to pay taxes, but unlike the rest of us, refuse to recognize taxes are necessary for the continued existence of our community. The Caribou Secession Committee has organized their game of the year, the Caribou rural vs. Caribou townies. Period one seems to be the recent public meeting of the Caribou Secession Committee.
The Aroostook Republican’s coverage of the meeting explained St. Peter’s reason for not distributing the group’s figures and calculations to the public. “We just didn’t want them out there in the public; we’re getting enough flack with them every day.” Really? Because they not quite correct? In that case, I completely understand the need to avoid transparency.
The first Commission goal cited is to “discuss the numbers” at a public hearing. That will be difficult because so far they are a secret. Numbers can be so pesky at times. Their second goal is to list the grievances with the city. I am pretty sure there are ways to present grievances without seceding. How about a letter? A public comment session? Sky writing? Classified Ad? Why not run for office? If anyone agrees with you, you will get their vote. If no one agrees with you, you will not be elected and the democratic process will prevail.
Finally St. Peter confessed he really wants to ”keep Caribou together” and just wants citizens to begin asking questions. Then Camping confessed he just wants to “make some changes” and he doesn’t really want to secede either. He is tired of taxes. What are the other reasons for expending all this energy to split a community? Personal gain? Publicity? Boredom? Can’t succeed through democratic channels? Not taken seriously?
If the Secession Committee is so sure about the general unhappiness of Caribou citizens with their government and taxation, why is no one running for office? Can we expect to see at least one of the five leaders of the Secession Committee on the ballot in November? Enough drama, put your nomination where your mouth is and let us see who gets elected. Just don’t expect me to sign your papers.
Dale J. Gordon
Caribou
Petition circulators aren’t ‘trouble makers’
To the editor:
I am writing in response to Lori Brown’s comments which were published in the Viewpoints section of last week’s Aroostook Republican. I was the man that approached her and asked her to sign the petition I have been circulating for the Caribou Secession Committee.
I would like to set the record straight on what exactly took place. When she answered the door, I told her that I was going around asking registered voters to help us by signing the petition. That the petition is necessary to get a meeting with City Council to see if we could get taxes to go down, instead of going up, as they have for the last few years. She immediately stated that she was not interested, therefore, I did not discuss any other issues with her such as secession.
We do not attempt to debate the issues or change people’s minds if they say they are not interested, but we are more than willing to answer any questions they may have. Ms. Brown had no questions so I said good bye to her and left. She also claims that I said that, “I couldn’t believe that you would refuse to sign!” I did not say that, or anything else for that matter, as our encounter was extremely short.
Further, in her closing statement, she stated that Caribou is a hardworking community and the last thing it needs is a handful of “trouble makers” who want to divide the townspeople against each other. It is not our goal to divide the people against each other. This couldn’t be farther from the truth!
We have said this many times, our goal is to have a town meeting to see if all the people can come together and find ways to reduce taxes. By the way, have you driven around Caribou to see all the “For Sale” signs in the front yards? Tell the people that are struggling to keep their homes and can’t afford to pay their taxes that we are “trouble makers.” It may surprise her to know that there are a lot of people out there who appreciate what we are trying to do. Obviously, some people don’t.
As a point of information, the law requires us to circulate a petition and obtain the signatures of more than 50 percent of the registered voters who reside in the secession territory. We must do this just to get a public hearing to discuss the problems, like year after year tax increases, that have brought us to this secession movement and we are following the process mandated by law.
I would like to thank the many hundreds of people that have signed our petition and believe in what we are trying to achieve. I am a petition circulator working for the people.
Milo Haney
Caribou
Secession facts
To the editor:
Fact #1: “The education of our children is our first priority.” Our Secession Committee member met with the then-RSU 39 superintendent during the first quarter of 2014 to get the information from the horse’s mouth on the education portion. The committee member was told that the school unit needed all 452 students sitting in those seats, and that everything should stay the same as it was now. He gave us the student head count and the amount of the 2014-15 subsidy per child per year, and that is what we have been relaying to the citizens in the affected area. We did not just pull this out of thin air.
Now after Mr. Aiken’s remarks in the Viewpoints dated Sept. 10, I thought I would go a little further and call the new superintendent to get her take on it. As of the date of this letter, the superintendent of RSU 39 and the Maine Department of Education claim that the secession territory committee and the Caribou school superintendent will sit down and agree on a plan and submit it along with all of the other documents to the Maine Legislature, and they will have final say. I would suggest that if Mr. Aiken is truly getting emails concerning this topic and any other concerning the secession topic, he should refer them to those of us who can answer their questions with the facts.
Fact #2: The petition drive does not have anything to do with whether a citizen agrees or disagrees with seceding from Caribou. There will be a formal legal referendum to decide that. Signing the petition means that you agree that the current direction, tax burden, size of the local government, etc., is out of control and that you agree that something needs to be done about it, and by signing the petition you agree that our committee needs to meet with the council in a mediated meeting to try and work out these points as described by law.
Fact #3: Mr. Aiken’s offer to sit and meet with our committee is appreciated, but it has the relevance of a guard dog with no teeth. Now Mr. Aiken should direct his fact-finding attention to: Title 30A, subsection 2717-A, “Residents of territory within a municipality must follow the procedures set forth in this subchapter before seeking authority from the legislature to secede from the municipality”; subsection 2171-B, “The secession process may be initiated by submitting to the municipal officers a petition signed by more than 50 percent of the registered voters within the secession territory that request a municipality. The petition must set forth the physical boundaries of the secession territory, the resident population, the nonresident population, and a list of not more than five people who serve as representatives of the secession territory”; and subsection 2171-C, “Upon receipt of a petition with the required number of verified signatures, the municipal officers shall call and hold a public hearing. The purpose of the public hearing is to allow municipal residents, officers, and residents of the secession territory to discuss secession. The public hearing must be conducted by a moderator elected in the manner provided for in section 2524, except that no other official vote may be taken at the public hearing. The public hearing must be conducted in accordance with the following, chapters 381, subsection 2.”
So as I read the law, I don’t see a mention of Mr. Aiken’s authority to offer or do anything. Mr. Aiken should remember that the secession territory’s financial numbers, petition drive, etc., are for the citizens in the affected area, and whether he agrees or disagrees is not relevant, and that when it comes time for the mediated meeting the discussion will not be about the secession territory’s proposed budget, it will be about the issues that have brought us to this point concerning Caribou’s budget, government size, etc.
As far as the remaining opinions of Mr. Aiken, they are just that, opinions. Maybe we all should leave our armchair opinions at home and deal with the facts instead.
Just a reminder: If anyone from the affected area has questions, please call our hot line and get the facts; information from uniformed sources only muddies up the waters.
Doug Morrell, board member
Secession Committee
Secession committee appreciated input
To the editor:
Diane Gove’s article in last week’s Viewpoints section stated clearly that Caribou’s debt is $968,760 and that Lyndon’s share of this debt would be approximately $323,000. What she failed to tell you (I believe because her sister, Joan Theriault, did not tell her) is that this is a long-term debt, and it is payable over the next 10 years.
Lyndon’s share of the debt can and should be paid off with the interest collected from the cash assets that will belong to the voters of Lyndon. Supplement 1 of the Caribou City 2013 Audit shows that Caribou has a net cash asset of $3,253,232 and a third of that, approximately $1,084,400, will belong to the people of Lyndon.
Diane is quick to point out that Lyndon will inherit tax liens amounting to $95,500, which she considers a debt. A debt to whom? I would recommend to the Board of Selectpersons of Lyndon that they immediately abate 25 percent of those taxes for a quick payment on the balance. This should bring another $66,385 into their cash assets account.
Thank you, Diane, for bringing this to my attention, as I had not included that in our calculations, and feel free to pass on any other assets you might discover.
Maynard St. Peter
Caribou
