Commenters took to the Bangor Daily News this weekend to weigh in on whether Maine towns and cities should be allowed to levy a local option sales tax, the Bangor Water District’s efforts to update its rapidly aging infrastructure and the proposal for a liquefied natural gas import-export terminal on Passamaquoddy Bay in Washington County.
Here are some highlights from the discussions, edited for length and clarity.
Are local option taxes a revenue-generation option for Maine’s towns, cities? March 27
I will oppose any local sale tax and lobby the residents of Maine to oppose it. I will, however, support a county sales tax, and those revenues will be divided up equally by head count to all communities in the county. What [Ben Sprague] is proposing is that Hermon, Hampden, Glenburn, Hudson, Brewer, Bucksport, etc., pay Bangor to shop there and receive no benefit from it.
—lovelyflowergirl
Budget cutting has gone on for quite a while. … Consolidation of town offices, police departments and school systems is what needs to happen to save the state from financial ruin [because] 1.3 million people can’t support hundreds of small governments.
—westshores
The bigger problem is many small towns in Maine have virtually no retail sales — maybe a few convenience stores. Hundreds of towns like that and they do not benefit.
—EC
As long as the residents of that town and county get to vote on it, why not. I’ve seen this done successfully in Florida. But it [should] not be arbitrarily done by a city council. Residents need to vote on it.
—G8terdowneast
Bangor’s old water system leaves many holes to plug — on a 400-year cycle, March 28
I wish everyone would think about this article each time they stop at the convenience store or grocery store and pay [more than] $1 for a bottle of water [because] the profits go into the pockets of Nestle (Life Water, Dasani, Poland Springs) and Pepsi (Aquafina) rather than into supporting our already-in-place-and-great-for-society infrastructure.
—David Reed
I’m OK with fixing this, but the problem with municipal and nonprofit budgets is that they never ever plan for the future. The money needed for this should already have been saved.
—beforeobama
It is a federal concern, we need something like the Civilian Conservation Corps camps [to] employ [people] and repair our national infrastructure.The states and ratepayers cannot handle the load of work and what it will cost.
—pattenpond
Downeast LNG to file environmental reports for natural gas terminal, March 29
This is a desperately needed economic boost for this area. But it will never happen unless Canada gets a slice of the pie. It is a narrow channel between the reefs of Deer Island and Campobello. And heavy tanker traffic will affect the fishing industry there. Canada will never allow this to happen for free.
—sledgehammer1960
I have just a little trouble with the idea that it would be more economical to ship Marcellus Shale-derived natural gas to Europe from Maine, rather than from its native Pennsylvania, which already has many Atlantic port facilities along the Delaware river. Something isn’t quite right about the stated rationale.
—BaaadPFP