SEELEY LAKE - President Trump’s trade war with China is expected to cost Montana families an extra $1,000 next year. Missoula County Commissioners have just announced an 11 percent increase in property taxes for 2020. Medical costs are out the roof. Electrical utility leaders are asking for rate hikes. Also, they say because of the trade war with China, monthly water bills here exceed $50 and are among the highest in western Montana. Gasoline is consistently 10-15 cents a gallon higher here than in Missoula. With these costs in mind, how can Sewer Board folks justify an additional $120-plus sewer bill on our low and middle-income residents?
Where will it end? What is the breaking point at which people rebel and come out shooting?
Elementary school enrollment appears to be down slightly and high school enrollment is basically flat....NO GROWTH. What does that tell you? That families are not moving here. That service employment is insufficient for people to afford to stay. That mill employees are finding it hard to find affordable housing so they don’t stay, either.
Walk down Highway 83N and count the empty or closed business spaces. Why is that? Judging from the tourist traffic this year it is not for want of customers. It is in part because the Health Department regulation has made it too expensive or difficult to re-open.
Of the closed or vacant business storefronts, the Foxfire and Elkhorn are former bar/restaurants which operated for more than 50 years. Another is the Grime Buster Car Wash which has been here for more than 20 years. All these businesses employed people, produced property taxes and were valuable, vital parts of our local tourist economy. Now they make Seeley look a bit like Appalachia.
The public menace here is the Missoula County Health Department. The issue is the economic health of our community.
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