To the Editor:

Dixfield, in an effort to allocate taxpayer money to the appropriate resources, needs to create a new department, the Department of Legal Services.

According to a letter to editor in this publication, the officers of regulation for Dixfield have retained legal services in the ongoing negotiations for a new labor contract with four or five public works employees.

The author of the letter states $29,000 has been spent so far for this service, a statement the chair of the board never addressed in a subsequent speech given at a board meeting.

Research of documents pertaining to budget requests prepared for the annual town meeting, one line item under Executive Department listed as 07 – Legal Services provides $4,000 for events when the municipal officers require legal assistance. It is the only line item for legal services to be found in the entire document, including all departments.

Somewhere, during the course of municipal undertakings, the decision to spend $25,000 more than budget allocation became a routine matter requiring no citizen input. This is not a trend conducive to lowering taxes and has been occurring much too often lately.

I know Maine Law prevents disclosure of what happens during labor disputes, but when massive spending above and beyond the budget amounts that we the citizens faithfully and duly entrusted our regulators to reasonably spend on town business, we deserve answers for the sake of accountability and transparency.

Dan McKay,

Dixfield