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County reviews three mill-levy ballot requests for senior services and Head Start
Summary
Directors for the Smelter City Senior Citizens' Center and the Anaconda-Deer Lodge Head Start asked the commission to place three mill-levy measures on the primary ballot to sustain meals, transportation, building maintenance and early childhood services; officials urged outreach to voters.
Leigha Bates, director of the Smelter City Senior Citizens' Center, told the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Commission at its Feb. 10 work session that the center serves about 430 seniors annually and is asking voters to renew and expand mill-levy support.
"Last year we provided 21,000 meals including 16,500 Meals on Wheels, which is up 50% since 2024," Bates said, and she asked the commission to place Resolution No. 26-04, a three-mill levy for center operations, and Resolution No. 26-05, a separate three-mill levy for food programming, on the primary ballot.
Bates said the center bills about $8,700 a month for Meals on Wheels but receives only roughly $3,000, leaving a monthly gap of about $5,700 (roughly $68,400 per year) the center covers so that "our seniors don't go hungry." She said the center provides transportation, congregate lunches and other social programs and relies on 15 volunteers who had contributed roughly 2,700 hours so far this year.
"The mill levy makes all of this possible," Bates said, adding that the center is sometimes identified locally as the Metcalf Center and that staff would adjust ballot-language communications to reduce voter confusion.
Head Start Director Heidi Ungaretti separately asked the commission to place Resolution No. 26-06, a two-mill levy, on the primary ballot to help maintain two buses and fund building maintenance for the county Head Start program. "These funds help cover the costs of maintaining our two buses and essential building maintenance," Ungaretti said.
County CEO Bill Everett and County Attorney Morgan Smith confirmed staff had reviewed ballot language and recent statutory adjustments. Everett said the senior-measure has historically enjoyed strong voter support and urged the commission and community to promote the Head Start measure to increase its chance of passage.
Commissioners did not record a final vote on the measures at the work session; the items were presented for review and to be placed on the regular agenda for a future meeting. The commission also discussed clarifying the senior-center name on ballots to avoid confusing voters who know the facility as the Metcalf Center.
The next procedural step is formal placement of the resolutions on a commission agenda for action; no formal election date changes were proposed.
