Auburn City Councilor Joshua Shea just made sure he would last only one term (March 29). He opened taxpayers’ wallets and told Auburn School Superintendent Katy Grondin to take as much property tax money as she wanted to spend.

Thank you, Councilor Belinda Gerry, for educating Shea about budgeting and the need to keep taxpayers from leaving Auburn.

The Auburn School Department is no stranger to spending. The last superintendent ordered iPads without city approval, excused himself by saying grants would cover the cost, then admitted no grants existed and taxpayers had to pay. Grondin has pronounced that, although the state says Edward Little High School is not in dire need of state funding, the taxpayers would have to support the department’s proposed new campus.

In economic times when business employees have not received raises or extra benefits for several years, Grondin is asking for an increase in the School Department budget. Most of the money to go to “people and increased health care benefits.”

Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald was quoted in the Twin City Times recently, stating, “More funding is not the answer to improving our school system.”

Brian Clark of Lewiston wrote a letter in that same newspaper, stating, “We need people in the school administration willing to think outside the box and use existing resources.”

And there sits Mr. Shea, holding open our wallets.

June Chartier, Auburn