The town of Roxbury will hold its annual town meeting on Monday, March 7, at the Town Office. Officials will ask for an additional $200,000 for engineering costs to replace/rebuild an existing three-walled salt shed.

Last year, townspeople appropriated $16,400 for engineering costs for that project. They also appropriated $1,100 to AVCOG, an organization that helps small towns such as Roxbury receive grants to help pay for such projects.

That low-priority project needs to be put on hold. Roxbury currently holds a heavy loan debt of roughly $2 million, stemming from recent projects. Each year, $200,000 of the annual budget goes to paying down that debt.

Roxbury has about 350 citizens, with far fewer than that number paying taxes, and cannot afford a President Obama-style budget of constantly increasing the loan debt. The town cannot afford a New York-style building to cover its salt pile.

This project needs to be put on hold for now. Exhaust the grant process first.

That is how I feel. I hope Roxbury residents will attend the town meeting and vote. It is their tax dollars at stake.

Tina Howard, Roxbury