Hometown Helena Thursday, October 24: Housing, Montana Association of Counties

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Hometown Helena this Thursday, October 24: Housing, Montana Association of Counties

October 22, 2024


Hey Y’all,


If you haven’t seen the new East Helena High School (EHHS) yet, this Thursday after work is your chance. The Helena Area Chamber of Commerce is holding their Business After Hours Social from 5-7 pm at East Helena High School. C’mon out and see the home of the Vigilantes this week. East Helena High School is located at 2760 Valley Drive, which is just north of downtown East HelenaThis is a great opportunity to see the new school. You’ll find it is a beautiful facility: well lit, with plenty of windows and glass, wide hallways, nice classrooms, easy to navigate. I judged a speech meet at EHHS last year and was most impressed with the school. There are great things going on in East Helena. Please come out Thursday afternoon to see the school, meet the principal and some of the faculty; and socialize with your friends from the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce.


Meanwhile, we have another great Hometown Helena lined up for this Thursday morning. We’re going to take another look at housing in Helena, with an emphasis on what is being done to develop affordable housing in the Helena area. Emily McVey, from the United Way of the Lewis and Clark Area, will guide us through this discussion. We’ve learned a lot over the years about the importance of housing. We’ve learned that housing is key to health, healthcare, safe communities, nutrition and all the other elements of productive, successful living. 


We’ll also be joined by Eric Bryson, Executive Director of the Montana Association of Counties (MACo). Mr. Bryson has been at the helm of MACo for quite some time, and he has led the organization very professionally and competently during a difficult period. Local government is taking the heat for the increase in property taxes we have all experienced the last several years. I’m old enough to remember Initiative 105, the property tax limitation passed by Montana voters in 1985. This measure stipulated that the limitation on property tax increases would remain in effect until the Montana legislature passed another, alternative way of raising revenue. The legislature has failed to do so. Various exemptions, exceptions, exclusions have been enacted, including a new school funding formula and methodology; but the fact remains that Montana is still reliant on property taxes to fund local government services, including schools. Meanwhile, the state of Montana is mostly funded by income tax revenue. I’m hoping Mr. Bryson will agree with my layperson’s summary, and will educate us further this week at Hometown Helena. We hope you can join us.


And, mark your calendars for the October 31 Hometown. We’re going to switch gears and talk about Montana’s number one industry: Agriculture. We’ll start with an overview by Eric Belasco, Chair of the Agriculture Economics Department at Montana State University, Bozeman. Following that we’ll turn our attention to the local Ag scene and hear from Cole Mannix, the Executive Director of the Old Salt Cooperative, and founder the Union Restaurant and Butcher Shop downtown at Lawrence and the Gulch. Following Hometown that morning, we’re all invited down to the Union Restaurant for breakfast! It will be a great morning. We may ask for a show of hands this week in order to give Cole some idea of how many folks to expect, so please give it some thought. Sure hope you can make it.


We’re looking forward to seeing you Thursday morning either in person or via the Zoom, courtesy of Aja Rail and the fine folks at Pinion Global, Inc.


Jim Smith

406-949-1002

October 31 🎃

  • Eric Belasco, MSU Ag Econ

  • Old Salt Co-Op

    • Breakfast at the Union after Hometown!


November 7

  • Lewis & Clark Library

  • Tech Hub


November 14

  • Montana Jewish Project


November 21

  • FLEX Student Presentations


November 28

  • 🍁🦃 NO MEETING 🦃🍁


December 5

  • Tribal Economy Panel


Announcement period is from 7:00 to 7:15.

Please limit announcements and comments to 2 minutes.

Hometown Helena - Thursday, October 24th, 7 a.m. @ Helena College & Live via ZOOM hosted by Pinion:

  • Emily McVey, United Way of Lewis & Clark Area

  • Eric Bryson, Montana Association of Counties

  • Online Meeting Instructions: Please keep your phone or microphone muted during the meeting and note that your camera may be on depending on your ZOOM settings. Please "raise your hand" at the start of the meeting if you will have an opening update or introduction.


  • In-Person Announcements: Please plan on approaching the front of the room to make announcements directly to our host so online attendees can hear. There is time at the beginning of the meeting for announcements. Please limit announcements and comments to 2 minutes.


  • View Program Recording: Hometown Helena is recorded and posted at HometownHelena.news, typically within a day.


  • Hometown Email List: This private email list is not shared. You can join or update your email information at HometownHelena.news or by clicking the button below.

The Hometown Helena Team is Jim Smith, Rick Hays, Kelly Cresswell, Emily McVey, Tom McGree, Peter Strauss, Ann Waickman, Haley McKnight and Matt Elsaesser

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