I must respond to the recent article on robo-calls meant to defeat the RSU 18 budget. There is something disturbing about secretly funded calls by elected town officials.

In robo-calls to a select phone list, town selectpersons from Belgrade and Sidney voiced “citizen” outrage because the school budget was not flat funded. Not only did the July 30 call erroneously note a 5.6 percent increase when the actual increase was half that amount, it also failed to tell voters that Belgrade and Sidney selectpersons had voted to increase their own budgets by 4.5 percent and 6.3 percent (without the school budget).

The article also mentioned a $75 donation to the robo-call campaign — double the cost of the proposed annual tax increase for a home in Belgrade valued at $100,000.

These “concerned citizens of RSU 18” have $75 to fund factually inaccurate robo-calls but balk at paying $75 (20 cents a day over a year) for schools that prepare our kids to compete in the world, create jobs and earn a wage. The wages they will earn generate taxes to fund our needs: roads, police and firefighters, and Social Security for the oncoming wave of aging boomers on a fixed income.

The consolidation of RSU 18 saved more than $1 million in taxes to the towns. Did the towns refund that to real estate taxpayers?

Carol Carothers

Belgrade Lakes