As the Portland Charter Commission works to assemble a preliminary report for the City Council by the upcoming May 9 deadline, I write to ask that each of the commissioners’ proposals that ends up being submitted to the voters be accompanied by an estimate of its cost to implement; savings that are projected to accrue, and the proposed sources of funding for it.

I made this request of the commissioners by email in February. Unfortunately, only one commissioner thought the suggestion was worthy of a response.

I hope that, in this time of rising inflation and after the recent property revaluation that hit many Portland taxpayers with substantial increases, the commissioners are not ignoring the real possibility that the charter provisions they recommend may come with price tags for all of us – renters and property owners alike.

Portland’s voters are entitled to know the financial impact of the commissioners’ proposals in order to make fully informed decisions in November.

Ellen D. Murphy
Portland