Kudos to our city leaders for balancing the budget without raising taxes. While I commend them for restraint, their spendthrift ways are the reason the mill rate is so high in the first place.

For starters, the Riverwalk connects Lewiston and Auburn’s seediest neighborhoods. This expenditure immediately became a conduit for crime. The first night it opened, shrubs were uprooted and walls were spray painted.

The giant brassiere strung across Main Street is another puzzler. This structure does not draw business or change the neighborhood. It is a waste of money.

Next, our leaders just had to have a new building, or should I say a refurbished one. Most puzzling is the inscription. It reads “City Hall-Auburn, Maine.” I guess they had to add “Maine” in case someone got lost. Rest assured, when you walk in to pay your property tax, you will definitely know that you are in Auburn, Maine.

City leaders need to heed the phrase “you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” They are trying to turn the downtown into a gateway to some mythical city that will not exist. A colored canopy, red crosswalks instead of white ones and expensive plantings on traffic islands will not change Auburn. Instead, it will cost taxpayers more money. I don’t support the Palesky proposal; I know the impact it will have on municipal services. Yet I do know that the spending that has gone on is one reason it is on the ballot.

Thomas J. Roth, Auburn