In a letter to the editor, printed Jan 14, Lewiston City Councilor Robert Reed asked “Where did the rest of the money go.”

He rightfully questioned an Oct. 16 story in which Maine Housing announced that the Low Income Heating Assistance Program was to receive $79 million for Maine households and 84,000 Mainers would qualify at an average of $782 for heating oil. Basic math would tell us that just over $12 million is remaining.

Reed wants to know where the money went.

I don’t take issue with his question – government needs to be held accountable and be 100 percent transparent; I do take issue with his methods. He decided to take the adversarial and accusatory route and aired his concerns in a letter to editor. By placing a simple phone call, he would have received an answer to his “tough question.”

I called Maine Housing and this is what I found out: Of the $79 million, 15 percent was for weatherization programs, 2.5 percent was set aside for emergency fuel assistance, and a portion also used for a clean furnace program.

That takes care of Reed’s $12 million question.

The question only became “tough” because he decided to make it so.

Willliam Fessenden, Sabattus