Just a few comments and questions about Readfield’s new .3-mile, 1.2-million-dollar sidewalk.

First: The town government is once again treating the $960,000 grant as free money. It is not. It’s taxpayer dollars at a time when a large percentage of every federal dollar spent is borrowed, adding to the record national debt that the children this is supposed to benefit will have to deal with eventually.

Second: The town government also acts like they are doing us a favor by not raising taxes while using our tax dollars that were collected to repair and improve our many bad roads. What about the maintenance, plowing and sanding? No freebies there.

How about the fact that children have to cross the road at a spot with bad visibility? Unnecessarily dangerous? You bet.

Also, the recently paved Church Road will have heavy construction equipment on it throughout the project. Where’s the money to repair or replace that? Not in the $190,000 rededicated to sidewalk money.

False truths, free grant money, incomplete information. Sound familiar? It should. Remember the Wi-Fi project? How about the softball field after initial promises “no tax dollars” would fund fairground development. Both were voted down by voters analyzing the real facts.

If voted down, the $70,000 lost will be a fraction of the real cost now and over time.

With the current inflationary situation forcing us to prioritize expenses by trimming nonessentials, there is absolutely no reason the town government can’t operate the same way especially when we are already facing a tax increase from the school budget.

Please join this household in voting down article 17 and all nonessentials on the warrant.

David Hepfner

Readfield