“There is a crack in everything God has made,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson. Does God take credit for making government? Certainly government has its share of cracks.
When something falls through governmental cracks, officialdom must not plaster over the problem. When bureaucracies screw up, innocent bystanders should not have to pay the penalty.
There will be a special town meeting in West Paris soon to discuss a problem the town created when it misstated employee earnings on its Form 941. The town’s error will mean that 14 of the town’s employees will need to refile tax forms.
You will not be surprised to learn that it will cost more to refile.
The town’s selectmen have asserted that the refiling penalty will be borne by the town. “We should pay the cost for our employees because what has happened was not their fault,” said one selectman.
Exactly the right response.
And anything else the town can do to reduce or eliminate the hassle of refiling would be a kind gesture as well.
To be honest, this is the sort of response we’d expect in Maine, where towns are loyal to their employees, and employees are loyal to their towns. We would hope that towns would be equally or perhaps even more kind to taxpayers when they run afoul of an error, a fissure or a twist of red bureaucratic tape.
It is difficult to sue government over such matters. Therefore, we should rejoice when government comes with a conscience and a desire to do the right thing. West Paris government would appear to represent that ideal well.
Advantage
On one page of Friday’s newspaper, readers learn that areas of western Maine must market themselves better if they want to attract tourism’s dollar. A little bit of marketing goes a long way, the studies show.
On another page, readers find that Oxford County earned an “A” rating from the American Lung Association because of its complete absence of high ozone days last summer. Contrast that with some of Maine counties that earned an “F.”
While Oxford County residents’ lungs might swell with pride at the ozone news, Oxford County tourism marketers’ hearts might skip a beat reading the two articles. Not only is Oxford County a great place to visit for all the usual reasons, touters might note, but visitors will find the breathing a little easier while they’re hanging out there, too.
Not that anyone would want to lure tourists from the smog-bound coast of Maine. No, never. But for all those asthma sufferers who can’t decide whether to hang out in their Massachusetts or New York ozone-choked river valley towns this summer or perhaps go somewhere else and inhale a cleaner air mix, well, Oxford County could make a good case.
bstackhouse@sunjournal.com
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