I hope that my fellow Windham taxpayers are as prepared as the Boy Scouts are. Because if we aren’t, we are going to pay dearly for living in a town that has a government led by high-stakes gamblers and the problem is they are betting with our money, not theirs.

There is no doubt about that fact because they are also using our money to brainwash us into believing some of the lies they are telling us.

Two of the most important projects being promoted with our money are the North Windham sewer project and the related retail study being conducted by The Retail Coach, a Texas firm that has never done business in New England. I say they’re “related” because with a sewer system running down Route 302 to the Westbrook sewerage treatment plant, I predict both sides of Route 302 will be as heavily developed as Route 302 in North Windham is now. And please, I am all for sensible growth in Windham, especially for those businesses that do not exist in town. Years ago someone on the council made a statement that North Windham looked like Route 1 in Falmouth or Scarborough. The only problem is that those two towns did something to fight against uncontrolled growth while Windham pretends to be doing the same while still doing the opposite.

As far as the ongoing retail study, I certainly hope that we get some results besides needing more fast-food restaurants and hardware stores that sell riding lawnmowers. I used the quote above because it shows the Windham town council leadership having no clue as to what businesses could thrive in Windham. McDonald’s has a large lunch crowd almost every day and there’s a reason for it. They provide an easy, reasonably priced lunch and patrons know what they are going to get when they go there. I certainly stop at McDonald’s for that reason when I travel, especially if I am in a hurry. I could see Windham needing more food establishments if every one was absolutely packed but I have never witnessed that since moving to Windham.

But perhaps the most leading misstatement Aaron Farmer of The Retail Coach made was “we want to bring in new retail and new restaurants and help raise those sales tax revenues, which, in turn, will decrease the property tax.” Do you believe that because I certainly don’t. I have never seen it happen, especially in Maine where government at all levels sucks in every dollar that they can. Actually, I see no connection between sales and property taxes because Windham does not have a direct benefit of a sales tax. Even the increased property taxes on more retail businesses wouldn’t decrease residential property taxes.

My biggest fear with increased retail businesses in Windham is the increase in Tax Increment Financing zones. TIFs create another slush fund to either be used or abused by town management instead of lowering residential property taxes. What’s even worse is that Windham leaders didn’t even know that at least one TIF had expired for years, which meant that the town was breaking state laws. Not that it matters in Maine because all that happened was someone in Augusta must have backdated some paperwork to cover our town manager and economic developer’s butts.

Windham pays exorbitant salaries to our town manager and department heads and yet we have to hire firms from as far away as Texas to assist our clueless leadership in improving Windham’s future. I have a better idea. Let’s fire our incompetent leaders and hire outsiders to improve Windham. We paid The Retail Coach around $38,000 to do its retail study and we pay the town manager over $100,000 with benefits and our economic developer around $60,000 plus benefits. Any questions as to which way works out to be the cheapest?

I will remind all Windham citizens that the public hearing on the proposed sewer is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Town Council chambers in town hall.

Lane Hiltunen, of Windham, hopes that the upcoming local elections produces candidates that no longer promote self-interest or business benefits for friends.