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The Only Hint

At 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16, at the Westbrook High School, your Westbrook readers will be allowed to vote on the Westbrook annual budget. They will also, finally, be told how much of an increase there will be in their Westbrook tax bill.

This paper published the only hint of a number—a 1.3 percent increase in town and school expenses [April 20, “1.3% Budget Increase to Go to Town Meeting”; the proposed increase is now one percent]. Since then, Governor Dannel Malloy has found, again, a shortfall in state income and has proposed essentially billing Westbrook for almost $800,000 to cover school pension costs and a miscellany of other normally state funded Westbrook funding.

In addition, the school budget is now funding a staff of 180 with an estimated total of 786 students! We can assume that student population, as with our neighbors, will continue to decrease. Westbrook spent $25 million on new building and fields 12 years ago after voters were told we were facing a massive student increase. We are still paying off the bonding costs for that false prediction.

Not speaking out and not voting “No” actually encourages repetition of financial failures and wasteful expenditures.

The budget vote will be by a paper ballot.

Jeffrey T. Kriete

Westbrook