Neglect

" and everyone supposeth that his own neglect of the common estate can do little hurt and that it will be the care of somebody else to look to that for his own good, not observing how, by these thoughts of everyone, in several, the common business is jointly ruined."

Pericles~

Thank you SAD#15

Having occasion to read the recent article about the School Budget in the Gray Independent I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

SAD 15 took a 1.2 million dollar reduction in their budget this year as compared to last. By making hard choices and the tough decisions that so many are forced to face these days, the School Department has come through for the Taxpayers of both Gray and New Gloucester. This fine bit of work is to be applauded on many different levels.

By realigning and reallocating existing resources the Superintendent of schools Victoria Burns has proved by example that such cuts in spending can be made. Not only that, but they are spending less without sacrificing services or programs. This brings a higher fair market value upon the tax dollars we as a community contribute to the education of our children.

Ben Franklin once wrote: "A penny saved is a penny earned" so it seems fitting that the education department be the first to grasp that concept this budget season.

In these times of economic chaos, when the mania of borrowing and spending the nation out of debt has gripped our society, the refreshing news from our School Department invigorates me. They have shown themselves not just good stewards of our Children, but also of our community as a whole.

In short, we congratulate Superintendent Victoria Burns, her staff, and all the people involved in the school budget process this year for a job well done. We know it was not an easy thing to do but through hard work and determination, you all made it through, and we the Taxpayers of Gray appreciate your strong effort to cut costs and save all of us money during these uncertain times.

Let us now hope that the other departments of our fair town will follow suit and take measure of, the fine example set forth by SAD #15.

Allen R Butler

Time is Money.

Time is money, as the old saying goes, and each of us places a particular dollar value on our time. We do this as a matter of course, almost subconsciously, every day as we make choices as to how we are to approach the issues of our lives. There are hundreds of different ways to calculate what a persons “Time” is worth either to themselves or to others.

Some people break down a project or task by using the simple formula of hourly wage x the amount of time to complete = the sum value of their time on said project. This can also be applied to a purchase by dividing the cost of the item by one’s hourly wage. (Purchase cost / hourly wage = sum total time) No matter what formula you as an individual use to come up with your figure of self worth the fact that we do so as a society, and make decisions based upon the data from said calculations, is very interesting indeed.

Now, the examples above are by far the simplest of the lot and these definitely do not take into consideration some of the other factors associated with time value. I use these for, to try and apply the hundreds of other factors such as; lost value time vs. labor (i.e. time you would not be making the hourly wage anyway as compares to the labor you apply to your project) would create a very long piece. I haven’t the time to “Spend” on such an endeavor at this moment.

The gist of the argument is that we as a society understand that our time has value which in this day and age we translate into a numerical figure and currency. And that we are not going to either “waste” our time on projects or issues that do not at least return that value or “spend” our time frivolously if we can avoid it. If we were to “Waste and Spend” not only would that subvert our communal understanding of costs but it would also undermine the principles of industry that the citizens of Gray embrace fully.

So what you have to ask is; what is your time and labor worth?

Make your calculation then ask how many hours you have to work each year just to pay your tax bills?

Are you getting full dollar value from the government for those hours? Would it not be profitable to you to spend some of those hours looking at the Town Budget proposals especially if it could save you money come tax time? For if you through labor are able to save a sum in excess of the time put into the research then you can actually increase your hourly value and thereby your net worth.

The bottom line here is that Time really is Money, and if you ignore this most simple of facts, a pauper not only will you be, but so too will you make of others.

Allen R Butler
Gray, Maine