Legislature works to improve future as Montana ages
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What will Montana look like in 18 years? Americans are living longer these days, but Montana is projected to have the fifth-oldest average population.
A bipartisan conference in Missoula in September covered some of these projections. The conference was titled the “Graying of Montana,” and was sponsored by AARP, UM, MSU, PPL, BlueCross/Blue Shield, the Association of Counties, etc.
Why would they all care? These projections change our state drastically. In 1960, Montana had nearly 400,000 children under 18 years old and 100,000 people over 65. In 2030, just 18 years from now, we will have 200,000 people under 18 and 250,000 over 65; 26 percent of our population will be seniors. That’s half as many children and two-and-a-half times as many seniors.
Here is one good result that is predicted: less crime. That means fewer jails, fewer probation officers, fewer police. Senior citizens are more honest. We will save some money here. And fewer children in schools, half as many as we have now, means less money needed for education. We’ll need half as many teachers, half as many staff members and fewer buildings. In 1996, we had 165,000 students in kindergarten through high school. Now we have 141,000.
We’ll also see big savings on our property taxes. But the state will need more money for Medicaid and Medicare. So, local taxes will go down, but state taxes will have to increase. It is very important to plan for our seniors’ needs.
But wait. I, for one, do not like this projection. Montana needs to be a place where our families can prosper. What can we do? Montana can have the same business environment as our neighbors, and other states that are family-friendly.
Transportation costs stop large manufacturing, but not high-tech. Wise use of our natural resources will produce jobs. But our tax structure needs to be competitive with other states.
Last legislative session, we had many pro-jobs bills vetoed by the governor. Several were to reduce medical costs, continue to lower workers’ comp and prevent some frivolous lawsuits. This session we will work to make Montana a thriving state for everyone.
Email me at jannataylor@montana.com or call my cell, 253-8766, anytime. Remember, I work for you.
