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I have recently retired from many years of working in the health care policy, workforce development and government relations arena. I have owned a home in Red Lodge since 2000 and it became my permanent residence in 2013, after 20 years living, working and raising a family in Billings, MT. I previously had the honor of serving as the State Legislator (House and Senate) for 16 years for the Billings Heights. During my prior legislative tenure, I worked hard to listen to my constituents and focus on initiatives which promoted public education (lots of school age children in the Heights), fair taxation, small business and workforce development along with ensuring our community and residents had an effective and common sense voice
Folks in Carbon County, a rural community, have shared they want the legislature to focus on pocketbook issues, such as property tax increases, housing affordability, workforce that are critical for rural towns. I served on the Taxation Committees in the past, and worked/voted for homeowner/small business property tax rate reduction--a bipartisan and simple approach used in past sessions. Health care is critical to our community, as we've had several nursing home closures, and I will work on initiatives to reauthorization Medicaid. Recent state actions to. purge Medicaid roles will negatively impact health care for everyone, and jeopardize the financial viability for rural health care providers. Public Education and workforce are also key
As noted, during previous reappraisals, there was bipartisan support to reduce the property tax rates for homeowners and small business. This approach (recommended in Nov, 2022) was ignored and resulted in over $200 million in permanent property tax increases for homeowners/small businesses. The blame on local governments is factually incorrect. We need to lower the rates and stop the ongoing shift of property taxes from large corporations to homeowners. Homeowners are now paying over 50% of property tax; we need to adjustthe appraisal process/valuation for other classes of property tax to ensure fairness, expand senior citizen exemptions (on property tax), include renters in our efforts and continue expanding housing.
First, the state needs to take quick meaningful action to requalify those eligible for Medicaid! The state leadership kicked off 60% due to procedural issues, This means.,leaving low income families without access to care—including mental health and also forefeiting millions of dollars in Federal funding(our tax dollars). Rural facilities are at risk of closure (2 nursing homes closed in RL)The legislature should pass legislation to renew and fund the state share of Medicaid Expansion and reinstate 12 month eligibility. The legislature, unfortunately, may need to "micro manage" this process; i.e. add temporary staff. We also need to expand health access in rural areas through incentives to recruit and retain—including workforce housing.
Yes, I believe that education is critical to our children and Montana’s economy; School funding is complicated however we need to 1) increase base funding 2) avoid shifting to local property owners 3) stop sipping money from public schools through charter schools and tax incentives for private schools., Rural areas may need additional help to recruit and retain teachers, I would propose changes to the school funding formula to increase the state share and help students obtain workforce training or college credits while high school (other states do this) and consider putting more funding in programs rather than buildings.
