Community Compass: Why I’m voting no on Readfield’s broadband proposal

We all realize broadband is extremely important to a modern life, but this project is redundant and wasteful.

CentralMaine.com
Brent West
Readfield

The Readfield broadband project has highlighted a lack of voter education that persists in Readfield. I have always enjoyed living in our town even though the young family population keeps shrinking and costs of living keep increasing. I have served on the Conservation Commission and helped write grants to improve town trails at no costs to the taxpayers. Working full-time and raising a young child with my wife makes it even more important that vital town information is impartial and forthright.

When I heard that there was going to be a $5 million bond for broadband, I decided I should look into the project. I have since read all the posted minutes of the Broadband Committee, attended a committee meeting, and attended a Select Board meeting to ensure I had both sides of the story. I was hoping this due diligence would make me feel at ease, but it made me feel worse. I write this to encourage you as Readfield residents to take a closer look at not only this extremely risky broadband project, but Readfield’s budget, which has a proposed 80.2% increase over the 2022 budget.

The total proposed Readfield budget for 2023 is $12,545,634, with the proposed broadband project being one of the multiple increases to the budget. We all realize broadband is extremely important to a modern life, but this project is redundant and wasteful. It is on the backs of the taxpayers to subsidize a business who wants to put all the risk onto the townspeople.