As a concerned taxpayer of Pittston, I urging others to join me at the RSU 11 school budget meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Gardiner High School gym.

We, as taxpayers, need to band together and express our dissatisfaction with this budget. As it stands now, after our town meeting and with new school budget proposal, we will have nearly a 6 percent increase in our tax rate, making it almost $59 per $100,000 valuation.

I love our kids and want the best education available to them, but the cost of education has gotten out of hand. Our elder taxpayers are facing not being able to pay for the rising cost of their home tax bills. Our adult children cannot afford to keep paying all of these tax increases and keep their homes here in Maine. Many are seeking jobs out of state where property taxes are lower. It is time for us to stand up and do something about this issue.

The school budget is the largest part of our tax bill. We all have made cut backs and pay for our own health care increases. Why does our school district think we should pay for 100 percent of its benefits? Other towns across Maine also are fed up with all of these increases and have voted down their school budgets. We need to do the same.

I urge other taxpayers to come out and vote on Tuesday to lower our school budget. We need to send a big message to the RSU 11 administration.

Cheryl PeasleePittston