I am going to do my best by omitting things in the column like Vaseline, kiss my butt, political assassination, meet your maker as well as other mean things said by elected officials in Maine.

I am also going to do my best by not supporting any political candidates unless they have proved to be sane, sanitary and smart. If I have to, I will forget about the part of smart and sane in order to have someone who has a sanitary mouth. And when it comes to budgets, it’s our own budgets that are being broken by elected officials at all levels.

Take the town of Windham for example, where the finance committee of three Town Council members will have made their budget proposal Tuesday, if the world didn’t end. I didn’t have any high hopes at all for this year’s budget committee in Windham and it’s difficult not to use some of the above words when I think about it. So I wasn’t surprised when the budget committee came up with two recommendations on the Windham town manager’s proposed budget although somehow where the sun doesn’t shine comes into my mind.

Like I have stated in earlier columns I consider this Windham council to be not much more than a rubber-stamp approval committee. I do have to admit that at least one town councilor is looking after the youth in Windham after seeing (and changing) the conditions at the Windham Skate Park. Please remember Windham’s town councilors begin each meeting by stating “To this end, we pledge to conduct ourselves in a manner befitting these roles and duties. We pledge and encourage others to ‘Be the Influence’ and to recognize that decisions matter.” An empty beer bottle, cigarette butts and possibly a bag of marijuana were found at the skate park. Maybe more town councilors should stop there more often.

One thing that I need to look into is how much money Windham has received from the state’s revenue sharing program and what Windham programmed to receive and what it actually did receive in the end. It seems to me that Windham has received more than it budgeted for, which means there’s a pile of unused cash in town hall. While I’m looking at that, I will also look to see how much cash Windham has in its surplus. If I have any memory left at all, it seems like it is considerably higher than it needs to be. I highly doubt if any surplus would ever be used for tax relief for us property owners in Windham who shoulder the heavy burden of taxation. Unless, of course, we throw out all of the rubber stamps in the council chambers.

Then there’s our dollars that go to pay Cumberland County taxes of which we have no say over whatsoever. The county commissioners tell us what we have to pay and we do. That’s one of the reasons I consider county government redundant and should be done away with. The second reason is the formerly named Cumberland County Civic Center, which should be given to the city of Portland along with its financial responsibilities. Much more of that in a future column.

Then there’s the Portland Water District, which believes it should have no oversight from the Maine Public Utilities Commission, which I think is nothing but another rubber stamp committee which isn’t for taxpayers and ratepayers as well.

Finally, there’s the good old state of Maine budget, whatever that will end up to be. No matter what, I am sure it will include hidden tax increases that will be claimed as tax decreases. Robbing Hood has been cloned and is alive and thriving in Augusta.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham believes Maine has too many municipalities and school districts.