To the Editor:

In 2005, the Legislature created Brunswick Landing and made it a public municipal corporation just like every other town in Maine, and made the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority its governing body whose sole purpose was to return the old base to public or private use.

Its obligation was to provide municipal services to the public and private occupants, but in financing these services, it could only use the proceeds of the sale or lease of its land.

What has actually transpired is that the MRRA has turned itself and Brunswick Landing into a leasing corporation in direct competition with the private sector. In the process, it has conspired with the Brunswick Town Council to thwart the objectives of the original legislation and dodge its administrative restraints.

The MRRA has sold only the land under the housing owned by a private investor — and only because the lease it inherited from the Navy was such a paltry sum.

In this process, the MRRA has spent tens of millions of taxpayer funds, little of it going for the services it is obligated by law to provide, most of it to subsidize private enterprises the majority of which would not come here without inducement.

The Times Record reported June 20 that MRRA has created another mechanism to fatten its pot at the expense of the taxpayer: It partnered with Mechanics Savings Bank of Auburn to make loans to private business locating in Brunswick Landing.

In other words, the MRRA is becoming the lender of last resort to the risky businesses relocating or setting up in Brunswick Landing. I have not seen the terms but almost guarantee MRRA, a public corporation, will guarantee the loan in a default.

One wonders why the government is looking around to save nickels and dimes when dollars are flowing openly out the back door. MRRA and the Loring Development Authority together have spent or committed nearly a quarter billion dollars with little hope of recovery.

If Brunswick Landing is to be lauded for its accomplishment, it should be for spending $642,000 per employee to create 255 jobs.

Let’s hope they don’t create any more.

Fred Blanchard
Brunswick