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Senate backs $5 million competitive grant program for senior centers
Summary
The Montana Senate concurred with House Bill 182 to create a competitive, one-time senior citizen center grant program with a $5 million appropriation and dollar-for-dollar matching requirement; senators debated administrative costs and eligibility limits before the measure passed 30-20.
The Montana Senate on March 21 concurred with House Bill 182, a bill to create a one-time competitive grant program that would provide up to $5 million for capital construction, maintenance, repairs and equipment purchases at senior citizen centers statewide. Senator Steven Novak moved concurrence; the Senate voted 30 in favor and 20 opposed.
Novak, the bill carrier on the Senate floor, said the program would be administered by the Department of Commerce and modeled on a previous one-time program for homeless shelters. “This bill first asks for a $5,000,000 appropriation using a small part of the general fund surplus,” Novak said, and added the maximum grant award would be $250,000 with a two-grant per-county cap in most cases and a required dollar-for-dollar cash match.
The proposal’s nut graf: supporters argued the measure would help aging Montanans by funding needed building repairs and equipment at local senior centers that regularly provide meals and social services; critics warned the administrative cost and unclear eligibility rules could undercut the program’s effectiveness.
Senator Denley Logie and others described routine local needs such as new floor tile and failing kitchen equipment at centers that rely on small local fundraising. “They sometimes need new tile on the floor. There’s an oven that goes out,” Logie said, noting that centers often solicit local donations for repairs.
Several senators pressed the bill’s fiscal notes and implementation details. A senator on the floor directed members to the fiscal note stating the department estimated roughly $732,000 in administrative costs to distribute the $5 million in grants, a figure one senator called “an extremely high dollar figure.” Novak responded that eligible senior centers in need of upgrades would be able to apply and reiterated the dollar-for-dollar match requirement; he also noted he had consulted appropriations leadership.
The bill sets a $250,000 maximum grant amount per eligible award, requires a cash match (in-kind contributions are not allowed), and limits the maximum number of grants per county generally to two. Novak said the program would not be ongoing and that intent language in the bill is intended to make the application user-friendly.
The Senate adopted the motion to concur in House Bill 182 by a 30-20 vote. The measure was then re-referred to the Finance and Claims Committee for the appropriations process, as recorded later in the day.
