For four long years our economy has danced along the edge of collapse. The harsh lesson that you simply cannot spend more than you make year after year has been brutally re-taught by rising unemployment, loss of home ownership, small and large business failures, shrinking social services, a disappearing safety net for retirees, downgraded credit ratings, and perhaps most debilitating the unprecedented devaluation of our currency that makes saving for the future a fairytale.

Undaunted by these immutable laws of finance, our Windham Town Council is nevertheless proposing that our town go deeply into debt. They’d like to borrow in your name, of course––$38 million initially and much more later to dig up miles of countryside and lake front for a sewer system.

Even if everyone believed that the threat to our water quality was substantial, which they certainly do not, we couldn’t afford it.

Even if experts agreed about what exactly the source of the so-called problem was, which they decidedly do not, we couldn’t afford it.

Even if the argument that a sewer system is essential for economic growth a highly debatable objective––we can’t afford it.

And even if the people were in favor of sewers, which they overwhelmingly are not, grade school math will tell you we simply can’t afford it.

And if you think $38M is going to be enough you haven’t paid attention to the price tag for Boston’s Big Dig. The real numbers for that provide a fair comparison to large open-ended government projects. Originally set at $4.5 billion, the tab now stands at $14.5 billion with a final estimate at $22 billion. Sewers for Windham? Figure $100 million easy.

Here’s what you may not know about town sewers:

Sewers systems are typically divided up onto phases, since they can’t do hundreds of miles of work at once. Hence start-up estimates are only a fraction of eventual costs, and “unforeseen” sewer costs have bankrupted more than one American small town. All costs are borne collectively by the residents the system serves. Moreover, the connection from each private home to the sewer line itself is borne by the individual homeowner. This will likely include a pump, holding tanks, actual piping, etc. It may also include the cost of ripping up your front yard and driveway. In a similar Massachusetts town project, the town obtained a 20-year, zero interest loan. The cost came to $17,000 per household. A low estimate for Windham, I’m advised, where our population density is lower. $25,000 per house is a better guess.

Furthermore, whether you get hooked up or not (ever), you’ll be legally responsible for the $25,000. It can be added as a lien on your property and you can’t sell without paying it. If you presently get your water free from a well as most of us do, that will change, too. Water In and Water Out can become “chargeable.” It will take hundreds of thousands of gallons of water to pump all that, um crap, to Westbrook. You’ll also be assessed a monthly usage fee which, history teaches, will rise faster than you can flush. Your property taxes will likely go up. And don’t forget, a whole new infrastructure is required. Pumps, holding tanks, pumping stations (want one next to your house?) miles of pipeline and electrical connections. All of which is potentially problematic in power outages. All of which will disrupt traffic and scar the landscape for years to come. All of which will costs millions in maintenance that never ends.

Still think this is a good idea?

The visionaries on the Windham Town Council do. Here’s what our town’s website says: “The absence of a public sewer system hampers business growth and new economic opportunity… A public sewer system would support the community’s goals for development…”

Whose goals? Does the Windham Town Council recall that economic activity in the Lakes Region has declined for the past five years in a row according to the State Planning Office? Even while other parts of the state and country at large did better. Many contend our area is already overbuilt and the year-round population simply can’t support the commercial base that’s already in place. They point to the closing of area restaurants, the shuttering of Lavalley’s, Sebago Gardens, Tim Horton’s and a dozen other local businesses, some long-standing, as ample proof.

Does the town council actually think that handing residents new monthly utility bills and a debilitating debt obligation of $25,000 per household are going to leave anyone with more disposable income to spend locally? Where? In stores they no longer afford?

As recently as last month Governor LePage responded to $100M in unfunded state spending bluntly, “A bond is a fancy word for borrowing money the state doesn’t have.”

The state can’t afford to borrow $100M, but Windham can?

As this paper reported recently, the Town Council is now going to spend some $18,000 to “educate” Windhamites on the advantages of having a sewer system before the measure comes up for a vote in November. They’re not hiring educators. They’re hiring a PR firm. Think you’ll get unbiased argument? Don’t make me laugh––I worked in that business.

If the Windham Town Council wants to leave a legacy for Windham, let them be that rare and longed-for government body that leaves behind a balanced budget and no debt. Let them prove they learned something about living within your means over the past four years. This project has a real stink about it.

Rick Roberts is a veteran of Boston’s advertising community and the US Army. He resides in Windham. He is author of two books: I Was Much Happier When Everything I Owned Was In The Back Seat Of My Volkswagen, and the recent novel, Digital Darling. Both are available at bookstores, Amazon.com, or visit: BabyBoomerPress.com.