Better Management for Maine Town Hall: Rumford

Watch the video highlights here

In Rumford, voters want their next Governor to address taxation, education funding, and government spending.  Maine has so poorly mismanaged state finances with high taxes and overspending that the local municipalities are seeing their education funding dwindle year after year.  Local governments have little choice but to adjust their property tax rates up, which makes the problem worse.

Mainers can handle the truth – and they deserve it.  The truth is that Maine is broke.  We have no new money.  For the last thirty years, politicians in Augusta have refused to make the right choices to put Maine back on a path to prosperity.  Instead of looking in the mirror and being honest about what we should provide and what we can afford, our elected officials have made the choice to do what they need to do to get reelected. 

You can’t make those kinds of short-term decisions in the private sector.  You have to think long-term.  You have to look ahead to see how the economy or your industry might be headed.  You have to spend wisely, lower costs, and put money away for the lean times.  That’s how good managers survive in the real-world.

In Augusta, they spend more, borrow more, shift money around, take federal funds, and hide the truth from voters with budgeting gimmicks. 

We need to be honest with Mainers about the problems we face and the choices we need to make to fix them.  There’s no silver bullet or big idea that will save our state.  We just need to get back to basics and address the root cause of our economic, fiscal, and job-related challenges. 

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