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Lebanon ballot questions were a real 'fee-for-all'

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Sometimes methinks Lebanon could be the poster child for the Outback restaurant chain: "No rules, just right."

I mean wasn't it Selectman Royce Heath who opined at the Public Hearing, "Every time you make a rule you take away our rights."

However you feel about Heath's comment, I doubt even Jimmy the Greek could have handicapped Tuesday's ballot question results.

Still, on a light turnout day, just 20 votes often spelled the difference between referendums sliding by to victory or going up in smoke.

So here's some of the silliness that goes on when 600 out of 4,000 registered voters go to the polls.

First, it's now OK for selectmen to set the fees for massage licensure and stray dog pickups, but not on mass gathering permits or any building code fees.

So what does this mean?

That the handyman and professional building community enjoy popular support among the masses?

Remember, the whole intent of the referendums regarding fees was to make them more closely aligned with the cost of providing the services rendered. Otherwise, the average taxpayer is subsidizing services they rarely use.

We would love to know the rationale behind the sentiment that believes raising fees that have been on the books 30 or 40 years is somehow forbidden.

Or maybe it was the dog owners just have no clout, although I do believe there's more Lebanon residents who own dogs than remodel or build homes.

As for the massage therapists, well, here's the rub.

It doesn't make sense selectmen can set an ordinance fee on Massage and Sexual Contact, but not on Waste Disposal facilities. That's bull---- for lack of a better term.

Probably with all this talk about massage everyone's hoping for a happy ending.

OK, here you go. There's always promise for the next set of ballot questions in June.

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