Dear Editor:

As a long time fan of the Board of Selectmen show, I am hopeful that this Town Meeting will be less contentious than some of the past meetings. Now that the local rental tax has been set aside pending something from the state that resembles direction. I hope you were aware that the state beat local would be assessors and has been taxing short term rental property for years! I am cautiously optimistic that the Town mothers and fathers will now tighten up their focus and concentrate on getting the Town employees taken care of.

Oh and what did I mean by that?? Well, we’ve been unable to fill a number of positions so our current roster is wearing lots of hats. Truck drivers, bus drivers, Code Enforcement officers, mechanics, and police officers are not applying to work in Rangeley. I would have guessed that the benefits of working for a municipality would be a drawing card, but the salaries we evidently pay are not attractive enough to make benefits look that good.

Recently, the fury over second home rentals caused a big stir. Second home owners generally don’t balk at improvements voted by the year round residents because they realize that we all need each other in Rangeley’s temperamental economy and temperamental weather! However, second home taxes are plenty high for what they ask of the Town which amounts to a road and a dump! The school is a huge drain on the tax base, but there are no viable alternatives on the horizon.

Now, we need to make sure that our Warrant shows decent raises for our loyal employees and sensible wages for open positions so we can keep the old girl on firm footing.

Eternally hopeful,

Rose Collins
Oquossoc, Maine