Letter: Candidates Hire Lawyer in Attempt to Maintain Billboard Revenue

In August of this year, shortly after the current Middletown Town Council voted to remove the billboards on the edge of town, they were recognized by “Scenic America”, for doing so.

Although we’re honored that our community is recognized by such a worthy organization as “Scenic America”, we are unmoved by the knowledge that our current town council decided to remove an income source in the midst of a deep recession. The current Middletown Town Council leadership, exclaimed they were “leading by example” when they encouraged fellow council members not to renew an expense free revenue source, in the guise of a quality of life
spin.

In opposition to and in what we believe is in the best interests of every tax-payer at this time, Middletown Democratic Town Council Candidate’s, Olin (Butch ) Gambrell, Richard Francis, Paul M. Rodrigues, and Robert J. Sylvia have personally retained a local attorney in hopes of stopping the removal of the billboards believing that it is a substantial long-term revenue loss
which will further financially burden our fixed income senior’s as well as every tax-payer who will have to subsidize the lost revenue, today and for many years to come. A conservative loss over the next ten-years is in excess of $500,000, which is a considerable amount of money.

Yes, it is the money that bothers us. We have numerous residents who are scraping pennies in order to keep their homes. This billboard income could have been devoted to ease the burden of lost school funding, to help our needy senior citizens, to fund a current town employee’s position, to purchase police cars or assist infrastructure projects, all of which would save tax dollars.

Olin (Butch) Gambrell

Richard Francis

Paul M. Rodrigues

Robert J. Sylvia