Duane Dumont of Leeds is a retired construction manager.

In 2012, we moved to Florida and lived on the west coast for 10 years. We moved back to Maine be closer to our children and grandchildren. We left great roads and bridges, good schools and lower taxes to come back.

Over the last seven years, Maine has decided to go with ranked choice voting, a Democrat governor, Democrats in House and Senate, and only Sen. Susan Collins left as a Republican.

Our education system ranks in the bottom 10, while Florida remains within the top 10.

Florida also lets the parents choose which schools their kids can go to. If their children are in a school that gets failing grades, they can send their kids to either a Christian, charter or private school with most of the tuition paid for by the state.

Real estate taxes, which pay for the schools in Maine, are ranked among the highest in the nation, whereas Florida is somewhere in the middle.

As I drive around the areas in Maine, I see bridge after bridge closed. I see roads that should have been repaved years ago. Both states use the same formula from the gas taxes, but Maine also taxes us every year when we re-register of vehicles. Florida does not.

The state of Maine budget has increased by nearly 65% in the last seven years, with what to show for it? We are ranked as the fifth highest taxed state in the nation. Florida, meanwhile, has no personal income tax.

It’s funny that people from higher taxed states (Massachusetts, for one) move to Maine because of lower taxes, then vote for the same liberal candidates who bring in the higher taxes that they moved to get away from.

Years ago, we had the cleanest power produced, via Maine Yankee. We decided to vote to remove it and bring in cheap hydropower from Canada. Now, we seem to be opposed to this energy and want solar and wind power — even though we are still paying the bill for shutting down Maine Yankee.

In Florida, we paid to have solar power installed on our house. There were a few solar farms around the state, paid for by private companies. In Maine, the Democrats decided to go into business with the prior president to develop wind and solar power (credits come from our tax dollars). This development would have been done by private companies if it was a viable solution.

Over the last three years, all I’ve heard from the Legislature is spend, spend, spend. State legislators seem to never see a tax they do not like. Then again, it’s not their money, it’s ours.

When you vote over the next year, instead of looking at the person to see if they are a nice guy, look at their past record of what they have done for the state — and for you. Isn’t it time we as a state maybe try something different?

Maybe we throw out the whole lot, and elect a group of people that will tax and spend “our money” like it was their own. This includes the governor, House, Senate, school boards and, yes, even the city councilors or selectmen.

You may not like President Donald Trump; I don’t. But I do like the results he is pursuing — lower taxes and a nation that is respected again.