It is no accident that Laconia’s roads are in terrible shape. Public Works
has been steadily falling behind despite its best efforts. This is a direct result of the tax cap. It sounds simple: Keep tax increases below an
artificially set amount and everything will fine – except it isn’t fine. The longer real repairs are deferred, the greater the long-term cost of repairs.
Likewise, the city is proposing slashing school spending to stay under the
artificially set tax cap, and the city and state have significantly reduced support for human service organizations.
How are these all connected? Children are dying from lack of oversight by
the Department of Health and Human Services. Young and old are dying from epidemic levels of opioids. Water
pollution is growing. Our lakes are becoming more and more poisoned from
run-off and other factors.
We are told that tax caps serve to keep unrestrained government in check; instead we have unrestrained corporate greed while our children are dying from neglect. The solution to drug overdoses is not more drugs, nor is it
just treatment.
The opioid, road and school crises will be solved by long-term investment and support of the institutions that provide youth with the resiliency to cope, families who can get the treatment to cope and jobs to
give people a sense of self-worth.
Throwing a few million at Narcan and other drugs
and treatment centers will just be good money after bad.
Isn’t it time to put people first and ideology last?
David Stamps
Laconia