As a town selectperson for Poland, I have witnessed the damaging effects that COVID-19 has had on my community. As leaders in our town have led the effort to keep members of the community safe, we have had to make some difficult decisions that have led us to financial strains that we never imagined.

For months, we have been calling upon the federal government to provide financial aid that would allow us to continue to serve our community. As of right now, because of the financial strain from COVID-19, we are at a crossroads. We are struggling to fulfill the responsibilities we have to our community. We are looking at budget cuts but do not want to hurt services.

We need Congress to pass additional relief that includes more flexible funding for our communities that will allow us to fulfill those responsibilities. We have been waiting for this action for too many months.

Unfortunately, instead of implementing this relief for local governments, the federal government has turned this into a partisan topic. Financial suffering due to a pandemic is not a partisan topic. Congress must put its partisan disagreements to the side and help alleviate the pain that local governments are facing now or else there will be severe consequences for months — or even years — to come.

Mary-Beth Taylor, Poland