Two key questions for Rothesay voters on May 9th are; “Am I better off or worse off now than I was in 2012.” And, “How did the decisions of Rothesay Council over the last four years impact me and my community?”

In observing how Council has operated, I think it’s clear that residents  don’t have anywhere near enough information to confidently answer the second question. That may be because Rothesay Council has probably spent at least as much on keeping their operations away from the prying eyes of the public than they have spent on informing and engaging constituents on the costs and benefits of their decisions. That is a clear failure of transparency.

Taxpayers know that our costs are rising. We’ve seen Council raise the tax rate two years running. We also see the newly arrived tax bills, higher than they were last year and higher still than they were in the years previous to that. We also know that the cost of town services, like water and sewer, have also increased. Some who aren’t connected to the Town system recently discovered that if they live in a serviced area, they too will have to pay water fees whether they are hooked up or not.

But what are we being told about why these increases are ongoing?

Well, the Mayor’s recent statement that the Rothesay Common project didn’t result in any increase in taxes is at odds with the Town Treasurer’s estimate that the upgrade project would have a 2.5 to 3 cent impact on taxes. In other words if the Common Project didn’t have to be paid for, taxes might have been reduced from the current $1.21 down to $1.18 per $100 of assessed property value. It’s no wonder residents might be confused given these mixed messages.

We don’t know what the tax impact is of putting flower beds and flagpoles in the middle of Hampton Road. But spending $1.5 m on “streetscaping” has to be worth another cent or two on the rate. If this road project had been done with more concern about cost, clearly the tax rate could have been lowered further…maybe even to a level that could have given needed financial breathing room for those with young families and those struggling on fixed incomes.

Perhaps I’m just an old curmudgeon and maybe flagpoles in the middle of the road are appealing to some and worth the extra cost. Maybe the Rothesay Common rink is worth a quarter of a million dollars for a season that’s only 15% of a year. But then again, without this spending the town would  have had the money to spend to light the new artificial playing fields thereby extending their use. But there is only so much taxpayer cash to go around…

Over the coming weeks you will hear from candidates who will try to buy your support with their wish lists of projects that they haven’t bothered to cost. Some of them will promote the proposed new Rothesay Arena project. That is a $15 million project that will add at least another 10 cents to the tax rate, pushing it towards $1.32, although you won’t hear that from them.

When they are at your door ask them about the current Rothesay Arena and its declining use. Ask why it’s opening later in the year and closing earlier. You might even ask why in 2015 it lost more than $60,000. Although in fairness that’s still less than a 1/4 of the annual cost of the Rothesay Common rink to taxpayers. That rink brings in no revenue at all.

Clearly the biggest elephant in Rothesay’s room, though, is the need to do a major upgrade of the Town’s water and sewer system.

If any Candidate is brave enough to talk about this that’s great. But you might also ask them to tell you what the water and sewer rates will have to look like to pay for a $30 million dollar system renewal. Rates for those services, we estimate, will  increase more than 30% over the next three to four years, and that’s just to cover the design and engineering studies not the capital cost. That means another  very hefty increase is coming and it going to hurt those who are already finding it tough to make ends meet.

So when  candidates come to your door with the long list of projects on which they’ve spent YOUR money over the last four years, ask them when they plan to stop the crazy spending and begin to make Rothesay a more affordable community.

For those of you who are in your peak earning years and don’t think this concerns you, you might think again about how much additional money you will have to put away for retirement to pay the ever increasing bills generated by the Councillors who continue to drive the spending spree.

You might also remember that only one councillor said NO to the tax and spenders on Council. That was Councillor Pat Gallagher Jette. She voted against this year’s budget because there was little or no substantiation for the expenditure of more than $14 million of taxpayers’ hard earned money. But Pat has often been the lone voice on the side of responsible and informed decision-making.

Let’s hope she decides to re-offer. In the meantime, it’s up to all of us to ask candidates the hard questions.

Stay tuned – there’s more to come including some guest posts.