Across Maine, I keep hearing the same line: “We just need to grow our way out of it.”

More housing. More valuation. More development. More revenue. That thinking is exactly what got many towns into the position they’re in now.

Lisbon is feeling it, but it won’t be the last community. Service costs are rising, infrastructure has been deferred for decades and the math is finally catching up. Growth doesn’t fix that. Growth adds roads to maintain, calls for service, facilities to replace and long-term obligations that don’t disappear when the headlines move on.

Maine also struggles to regionalize services. Nearly every town still carries its own fire coverage, public works footprint, administrative systems and equipment. When towns grow, they don’t merge; they scale. Costs rise faster than revenue. This isn’t a revenue problem. It’s a scope problem. The budget is a moral document. The budget is the policy. And for many Maine towns, it’s time to answer the most fundamental question: why?

Why does local government exist? What must it do well? And are we willing to fund those things honestly?

Every time we avoid paying for infrastructure, we borrow from the future. Lisbon is at the front edge of this reality. Other communities will follow.

We don’t need to chase growth. We need discipline, self-governance and the courage to fund what truly matters.

Charles Turgeon
Lisbon Town Councilor
Lisbon Falls