Let’s put our rose colored glasses on, raise water and sewer rates, raise retail taxes, raise property taxes, raise vehicle registration, and over budget for deficit spending in 2010. We’ll pull out;
The foundation commissioned a national poll that surveyed 4,004 people between June 18 and July 13, including 400 South Dakotans. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. Among its key findings:
– 29 percent of respondents in South Dakota said they had problems paying their mortgage, rent or heating bills.
-Â 44 percent said they’ve cut back on the amount they spend on food; 45 percent have cut back on saving for retirement.
-Â Â And 22 percent have had a friend or relative stay with them because of a lack of money.
“That 22 percent may be the single most striking figure in the survey data for me,” said Kevin Walker, Northwest’s chief executive officer. “That tells me one out of five South Dakotans have provided emergency or transitional shelter. That really brings home the impact of the recession on families and communities.”
Having trouble keeping up? Stop whining and move in with a friend, we gotta city to build God Dammit!
With an increasing number of folks getting behind the economic eight ball, a resource available to them to find out if they may qualify for federal or state programs is SDBridgetoBenefits.org. This site allows a person (or someone helping that person) to go online anonymously, provide some basic family and personal economic data, and find out if they may qualify for any one of eight programs. Forms to apply for the programs are also on this site as well as where to go in your county to apply and also what you need to do/bring in making application.