As the Nov. 3 election draws near, it’s time for people to start thinking seriously about what they’ll do when they go to the polls.

There are several referendum questions that all Maine voters will face on Election Day. One referendum question is whether we should invest more public money in state elections – which could make candidates less beholden to private interests – as well as improve disclosure of who pays for political ads. The other two questions are bond issues, one is to invest $15 million to build affordable housing for lowincome seniors; the other is for an $85 million transportation bond to fix up some state roads and other parts of Maine’s infrastructure.

Locally, a number of communities will be voting for elected officials. For instance, there will be city council races in Sanford, Saco and Biddeford, and voters in Saco and Biddeford also get to choose their mayor – read about whose running in those races on page A1 of today’s paper.

Some communities, like Biddeford, also have local bond referendum questions.

Biddeford voters get to decide on three bonds, if all are approved they would total more than $12 million. Just under half of the total, $5.99 million, is proposed to fund a variety of road projects; there is a $3.9 million proposed bond for sewer work and $2.25 million is being sought for City Hall repairs, including repairs to the clock tower. All these projects are worthy, and with the current low interest rates, paying for needed investments in the city through bonds makes fiscal sense.

Hopefully, voters will agree and past history won’t be repeated.

In recent elections, when several bonds have been on the ballot only one or none of the bonds have passed. Exit polling hasn’t been conducted to shed light on why bonds haven’t been supported, especially roads bonds, which anecdotally seem to be an area that many think money should be invested on. However, it seems likely that many of the proposed bonds have failed because voters, many of whom are the property taxpayers who would end up footing the bill, decide it’s too much to pay for everything.

But this time around, city councilors are hoping with a little information and education, voters will realize the importance and fiscal sense of improving the city’s – and the citizens’ – assets.

To that end City Council has authorized the city manager to spend up to $10,000 on a public information campaign, which includes mailing factual brochures on the bonds to everyone in Biddeford, a video and on print and other media.

The hope is that when voters see the facts they’ll know that investing in the upkeep of the city just makes sense.

That’s something we hope too.

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.