Dear Editor:

The Boothbay Master Plan will benefit only a few people, degrade the tone, convenience and the quality of life that Boothbay now provides, and may leave the taxpayer to pay off the bond issue. The TIF projections estimate new tax revenues of $4,725,731 over the life of the bond from the Country Club expansion alone.

This is magical thinking disguised as arithmetic.

The only concession to reality is that the town manager says the sum is an estimate. The financing details, including tax breaks for new businesses, give him and the selectmen unprecedented and exclusive powers to negotiate with new businesses, and many opportunities to manipulate arrangements.

It also refers to an additional $5,000,000 for the cost of sewer and water lines to the Industrial Park and Park improvements. Where is that money to come from? And what if the present owner of the Country Club, the only substantial taxpayer in place, or his heirs should scale back their project or even abandon it?

Nowhere does the plan say which new business will pay this estimated tax. What new businesses have the selectmen gotten expressions of interest from? Have they researched how towns similar to Boothbay have fared when borrowing large sums to create infrastructure in the hope that businesses will come?

I suspect they would find more failures than successes. The Hodgdon Yachts and Bigelow Laboratory TIFs make sense because they are narrowly focused on successful businesses; they were already in place because they are excellent fits for the natural and human resources of Boothbay.

This Master Plan is for the benefit of one business and some local but also non-local construction and seasonal workers. The message of selectman Ham's letter is “trust the selectmen & town manager.” Yes, trust but verify. Read the fine print.

And underlying any analysis of the master plan is the question: what would you like Boothbay and the peninsula to be like in the future? I would like it to be as it is but better. I abhor the huge bond issue and the gamble it entails. I would not like us to have more unnecessary debt. I urge a no vote for each of the warrants.

Fred Kaplan
Boothbay