At the last Windham council workshop/meeting, there was a discussion giving citizens on private roads with public easements up to a $200 property tax break a year if their road association improves their private road so that Windham’s Public Works will not tear down the mail boxes on their roads (wink, wink).

(I will also mention that one councilor mentioned the veteran’s exemption on property taxes, which is a $5,000 deduction off of the appraised value of the veteran’s home. If Windham’s mill rate is $10, that’s a whopping $50 taken off the property taxes for that veteran.)

I guess if other property taxpayers deserve a $200 property tax break, every other property owner should as well.

Every property owner in Windham chose where they wanted to live. If they chose to live on a private road, that was their choice which they should have to live with. If they didn’t know what was expected of them, then it’s their problem to bring their private road up to public road standards and I have no problem making that a public road at that point.

Every winter I spend extra money because in heavy snowstorms I usually have to have my driveway plowed after the plow trucks make huge banks of snow at the end of my driveway. I knew that this would happen but if another property owner receives a $200 property tax break, then I want that break as well.

In Article IX, General Provisions, Section 8, Taxation, of the State of Maine Constitution it is stated that: “All taxes upon real and personal estate, assessed by authority of this State, shall be apportioned and assessed equally according to the just value thereof.” There certainly is no authority for a town to give rebates to a select few but I would dare to guess not one Windham town councilor even knows that is in the State of Maine Constitution.

When it comes right down to the bottom line, this council scares me more than any council I have watched since moving to Windham. As one friend stated to me, this is the council of rule makers that likes to break the rules whenever it suits them personally. There has already been plenty of evidence of that and giving those who live on private roads with public easements a $200 property rebate stinks of the same. Where do members of the Public Easement Advisory Committee live? Do they live on a road that would give them a property tax break? Does Councilor MacKinnon live on a private road that fits this tax break? If the shoe fits, then let them wear it. Our town councilors have become clowncilors and I wonder when and if that will ever change. I do get it. Windham did get hit by the Winds of Change, and what a bag of wind it was.

And when it comes to those who own businesses in Windham that sell us gasoline, on Sunday, Sept. 4, I purchased gasoline in Windham and the price was $3.76 a gallon. On the same day I checked various websites that give gasoline prices in Maine and was amazed to discover that gasoline was $3.55 a gallon in Milo and $3.58 a gallon in Biddeford and Saco. I have to give the Windham town manager credit because during one council meeting he stated that Windham was a rich town, and here’s the proof. Not only are we paying too much in property taxes, we are also paying too much for gasoline.

Lane Hiltunen, of Windham, asks if crime doesn’t pay, was his job a crime?