Dear Editor,

This past Monday at a Boothbay Harbor Selectmen's meeting, Selectman Robert Splaine made the unfounded and incorrect claim that keeping a local hospital open here would double our taxes. This is totally untrue.

No proposal of this sort has been put forward by me, or anyone else that I know of. Rather, we intend to demonstrate that a local hospital here can run in the black based on fees for services rendered. No property tax money will be involved whatsoever.

Meanwhile, let's move out of the realm of fantasy and into the realm of reality. We heard from Palmer Payne at the very same meeting, based on real figures form the Ambulance Service, that Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor and Southport will see a total increase estimated at over $300,000 a year for beefed up ambulance services. 

Even with financial help from Lincoln County Healthcare, these increases will raise local property taxes as the closure plan from Lincoln County Health Care shifts costs from themselves to the taxpayer. 

And lest we forget, according to Lincoln County Healthcare's own figures, up to fifty people will lose well-paying, year-round jobs in our region. What will that cost the economy? What do we have in total? More taxes, fewer jobs, less accessible healthcare. Not a good picture.

Bruce MacDonald
Boothbay