At the July 5, 2016, Biddeford City Council meeting, it was announced that Biddeford has a $1.1 million surplus from the last budget cycle and that the City Council is looking at spending $350,000 of this surplus on a variety of city projects. This raises a variety of questions:

• Why was the budgeting process so “off ” that they now have $1.1 million of extra taxpayer money at the end of the year?

• The City Council is looking at putting the remaining $750,000 into the city fund balance. Why was the city trying to act on such a large item without consulting the public?

• How did these items get on the agenda for the City Council to act on without a discussion with the public? You would hope that an item of this magnitude would be discussed with the taxpayers before taking action on it.

• If these items would have been approved at the July 5 meeting, the public would have no way to publicly comment because of the removal of the Public Addressing the Council portion of City Council meetings. Why hasn’t this been reinstated?

• What is the return on investment of the proposed $350,000 worth of projects?

The city has scheduled a special council meeting on Wednesday, July 13, at 7 p.m. in council chambers (at City Hall). Please attend this meeting to let your councilors know how you feel your tax dollars should be spent. If you can’t make the meeting, please e-mail or call your city councilor to let them know your thoughts.

Brian Cote
Biddeford