October 3, 2012
Maine

Mitchell seeks seat on Dixfield Board of Selectmen

Eileen M. Adams, Staff Writer | Sun Journal | October 3, 2012 | www.sunjournal.com

Norman Mitchell’s biggest concern in town is high property taxes and what he defined as runaway spending.

“The $19.50 tax rate is based on 110 percent of valuation. They are taxing me on something I don’t even own,” he said. “It’s fiscal responsibility. Our town’s answer seems to be spend more money.”

“To be valued so high and to have such a high tax rate, and not just in one department,” he said.

“If we build a wind farm, that would be $40 to $60 million in (added) valuation. The school budget would increase,” he said.

He wants to have a wind ordinance moratorium enacted so that what he termed an impartial group could write a new ordinance.

“It’s been stated that the writers were not impartial, that they favored wind mills. I think Dixfield deserves to be protected,” he said.

He believes wind energy would raise electricity costs by $145 million by the year 2017, which would increase the average household electricity bill by $80 a year, largely because of the costs needs to upgrade the electricity grid.

Mitchell said he based these statistics on The Beacon Hill Institute, which is a research division of Suffolk University.

On other issues, he favors retaining Dirigo High School but he’s undecided on whether the town should use $50,000 on the withdrawal process from RSU 10.

He is also concerned about what he termed as East Dixfield being cut off from the rest of the town.

“We don’t get the same edition of the newspaper, we don’t get the access channel. I’d like to have meetings and warrants posted on the outside of the fire department,” he said.

Mitchell is a former Dixfield Public Works employee, a former Planning Board and Finance Committee member, and unsuccessfully ran against now Town Manager Eugene Skibitsky for a seat on the Board of Selectmen.