Dear Readers,

Maine's trio of gubernatorial candidates recently trotted out part of their “wish list” for the state. All were good ideas, but the “paying for it” part seemed a bit sparse.

Gov. Paul LePage, the Republican, seeking reelection, wants to keep taxes down and create special, union-free zones to entice businesses to move to our state. He also wants us to get mad at the handful of Mainers who spend their welfare money out of state.

Democrat Mike Michaud wants to raise minimum wages, provide free tuition for University of Maine sophomores, fix the roads and bridges and upgrade our telecommunication systems. It will be paid by $100 million in bonds. He didn't mention anything about the recent university layoffs and drastic program cuts.

Independent Eliot Cutler wants to fix our roads and pump up our telecommunication capability, too. He thinks he might be able to get the feds to pay for much of it. He also mentioned raising the state gas taxes and tolls.

The three candidates agree we need to attract jobs, fix the highways and upgrade telecommunication system. We also need to fund the other stuff too, like education and prisons, courts and conservation, and on and on. You know the rest of that story.

All these projects are good and deserve strong consideration. But, how do we pay for them? State gasoline tax revenues are shrinking as our cars get better gas mileage. Homeowners are fed up with high property taxes. Other tax hikes are unlikely to pass muster.

Can we just slash other budgets and save enough money to pay for the state's “wish lists”? Probably not.

Can we solve our budget problems by going further into debt?

We want our fair share of the taxes we send to Washington, but the feds are pretty good at holding on to our tax dollars, and that might be a tough sell.

Our state leaders can solve our fiscal problems in the usual way, by blaming the other guy, by ignoring them and hope they will go away. Maybe they will just wish for a magical godmother to solve the problem with a wave of her wand.

Or they can quit their bickering, sit down together and get creative. Maybe they can find new revenue, rather than relying on the “same old same old.”

For example, Democrats in Chicago and Republicans in Indiana leased out some of their toll highways and generated a big bucket of cash to fund other needed projects.

Given the history of the Maine Turnpike Authority (the former director was jailed after pocketing some $230,000), is it time to consider letting the private sector take over the management of the road?

Here in Boothbay, our main industry is tourism. Most of our small businesses make their living off folks who come here to enjoy our gorgeous geography. We provide certain services they require, from police protection to restrooms. Is there a way to get these folks to help us fund those services?

I hope our state officials will do a bit of brainstorming and find a new way to pay the bills, although, I fear they will take the easy way out, look to the millions of new tax revenue generated in Colorado and Washington, and jump on that band wagon.

Those who think this is the easy answer might do well to remember the national newspaper columnist Miss Manners, who said: “There are no free mink coats.”