Refrigerator Give-Away

Everybody is certainly aware of the “Energy Star” rebate program offered to consumers to entice them to upgrade their old inefficient appliances. The state even hosts a page on their website where you can easily apply for a rebate from the Montana Appliance Rebate Program. While the benefit of this rebate program is debatable what can be truly labeled as “government waste” is the Montana Department of Health and Human Service’s recent purchase of 114 “energy star” refrigerators for the tidy sum of $64,000 of your taxpayer dollars. According to a recent article at the Montana Watchdog the refrigerators were given to “certain applicants that met the agency’s qualifications”. Thank you Mr. Montana taxpayer for so graciously providing these new refrigerators at the average cost of over $561 each not to mention the undisclosed bureaucratic administration costs of overseeing this newly implemented “entitlement”

The legislature convenes on January 3rd and it may just be high-time to call Representatives Hansen and Warburton to demand that they give some in-depth scrutiny to the Department of Health and Human Services budget. It is time for the over burdened taxpayers to start paying attention to the systematic waste of our hard earned tax dollars.