I am writing today in response to Patricia McGahan’s My Turn in the May 29 Recorder.

I do not know what misguided entity convinced the tiny town of Heath with a dwindling population and only part-time or volunteer personnel that a $4,000,000 Safety Complex was necessary for a town battling historical financial shortcomings. This was a contentious proposal and the purchase of the Bray Road property and subsequent architectural plan should not have proceeded.

Former Gov. Patrick’s parting gift of a bogus, unfunded $2,000,000 grant for that complex was a cruel tactic which speaks to that administration’s lack of respect for the hilltowns of Massachusetts and left the town paying on an unused parcel of land. Even if the 18 Jacobs Road property was to be adapted for this safety complex, where would the resources come from to finance the project?

This additional financial burden would fall on the already bowed backs of the taxpayers, many who are elderly and on fixed incomes. Even if funds were available through a state grant, it would likely not cover the entire project cost because as we all know, no project comes in under budget, and the grant money and any overage would still come from state and local taxpayers’ pockets.

Presently, the town of Heath has the sixth-highest tax rate in the state and is careening toward the Proposition 2½ tax rate ceiling of $25, which would unleash a Pandora’s Box of issues; including not being able to release tax bills in order to garner tax revenue and the inability to make payroll for the town personnel, which would in turn curtail provision of necessary services such as waste disposal and highway maintenance.

Maintenance of the town’s three municipal properties contribute to this financial burden. It is obvious that the town does not require the space all three properties provide. Some in town have an attachment to the 18 Jacobs Road property while the properties in Heath Center quite adequately provide the necessary space for the town functions in a much more economical manner.

Last year, the Town of Heath had a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to address the town’s financial woes in a very progressive way when they had an offer to sell the 18 Jacobs Road property. This sale, through the Host Town Agreement, could have provided solutions to infrastructure issues that the town has long struggled with while creating a tax revenue base and approximately two dozen jobs, a rarity in town.

Even as a child, I witnessed my parents struggle to pay their burdensome property tax bills. The original decision to build the school divided the town and further weighted those property tax bills for all and continues to do so.

It is time to exercise fiscal responsibility and realistically face facts that the pipe dream of a multi-million dollar safety complex in Heath is just that . . . a pipe dream . . . It’s time to do the right thing, that which should have been done last year and sell both the 18 Jacobs Road property and the Bray Road parcel and maintain the town operations in the existing buildings in the center.

As a child of Heath, it has been my desire that I may continue to work the land that birthed and raised me, but if the financial irresponsibility is not reined in, even this daughter of Heath may need to find another less taxing mountain to take root on.

Lisa Diane Stowe is a resident of Heath.