I read with interest Walt Franklin’s July 3 letter to The Times. He is right on two things.

Our town cannot long survive on its current revenue source, principally sales tax and state aid, neither being adequate or dependable. And tourism and economic development have not proven to be the silver bullet some would have us believe.

To guarantee the fiscal future of our community, we need a primary property tax, a fair, dependable and predictable source of income.

To continue as we are invites a gradual loss of services, deteriorating infrastructure, lowering of property values and, ultimately, the exodus of families and the shuttering of storefronts. Sound familiar?

Mr. Franklin was incorrect when he wrote that “what we do not have and have not had is a Town Council with the integrity and intestinal fortitude to bring such a program (property tax) forward.”

In 2008 the then council had the integrity and intestinal fortitude to bring the issue of a primary property tax to a public vote. This was preceded by an extensive information program that included coffee sessions in homes around the community.

Proposed at the time was a tax amounting to $65 on a $200,000 home, about the cost of dinner for two at a local restaurant. And existing law prohibited an annual increase over 2 percent and provided the opportunity for assessed value freeze for low-income seniors.

Our voters turned it down by a margin of 4 to 1. Does our experience of the last five years tell us it’s time to reconsider?