To the editor:

This November the taxpayers of Portsmouth will be asked to vote to go into more debt. Why? 

I have lived in Portsmouth since 1991 in a home purchased that year. Since then I have earned and saved sufficient funds to keep my home repaired and upgraded. I have no debt against that effort. The Democrats elected to office in Portsmouth now want more of my money. My home insurance company (USAA) just sent me notice that my house tax is going up as a result of the Town Council voting to spend more money than last year, which was more than the previous year. 

Every year but one (Republican council), my taxes have gone up. If the Democrats raise the taxes at or close to the 4-percent max allowed each year (which they have done) eventually some of us will be taxed out of our homes. Now the School Committee Democrats want me to give them millions of dollars to fix problems at our schools that they didn’t fix over the years. Bonding for school maintenance is acknowledging that you have mismanaged your house funds. Setting aside capital improvement reserves is what should be done so that you don’t put your future residents into debt. 

The superintendent and the leaders of the School Committee came before the Portsmouth Concerned Citizens (PCC) at our monthly meeting to make the argument for the bond. I came away with the impression we have empowered the wrong people to make decisions for us. Their reasoning was faulty. OK, they want to rehab all the rest rooms in the schools. Why all of them now? I propose we use town funds to peck away at each project until a few years down the pike we have the projects completed. They argued that the state was going to help pay for the bond. Rhode Island has the third-largest per-capita bond debt in the country. It is all your tax money. 

This is off the topic, but I have to tell you that at the PCC meeting, the school superintendent told me that they were not pursuing educating our kids in Critical Race Theory. Then he asked the School Committee to vote money to pay a firm that supports CRT to do a survey. My first reaction was, “Replace this dishonesty!” But our elected reps don’t worry about us. They listen to public employee union leaders. 

OK, so where are we? Are you an unaffiliated voter. Why? You don’t like the major political parties and you want to vote for specific candidates. OK, where do the candidates come from? Of course, those candidates are chosen by … ? 

Wake up folks. It is time to step up and be heard. Bonding is debt. Electing Democrats increases debt. Find a good neighbor who is a registered Republican and talk them into running for office. You, perhaps?

Jeffrey Richard

55 Wamsutta Lane

Portsmouth