Matt Regier

As Montana life rolls on, we find our economy in the all too familiar position; lagging behind. In a state heavy with natural resources, we have in the past relied on a tax base from those resources. …Now we find ourselves in a bind as the implementation of environmental neglect eclipses the past productivity of a healthy, sustainable, useful management of our state resources. …I agree with Gov. Steve Bullock’s budget director when he spoke of the timber industry losing Montana mills, and further said, now our No. 1 industry is health care. Health care that has become a multi-million-dollar business. He is quoted, “Mills paid property tax, hospitals do not.” This shift away from natural resources is the long-term problem that we as Montana need to wrestle. Fortunately there is a short-term fix that Gov. Bullock fails to implement.