Wyoming Debates Economics of Courting Even More Retirees

At a recent gathering of about 100 local leaders and business people, Gov. Dave Freudenthal tried to explain why the state’s rapidly aging population is a good thing — and why Wyoming should try to lure even more older adults to its communities.

By KELLY GREENE
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

But Nancy Webber, a city-council member from Lander, a town of 6,800 that sits southeast of Yellowstone National Park, was skeptical.

"People tell me, ‘We don’t want more retirees. We want young people.’ "

Wyoming and other states are beginning to grapple with the graying of America. Within a dozen years, the U.S. will have an estimated 108 million people 50 years of age and older, or about 35% of the adult population. For county and state governments, the change — depending on the talents and dollars that older adults contribute to local economies and the services they consume — could prove to be a boon or curse.

Redoubled Efforts

Florida, for instance, is redoubling efforts to attract retirees, convinced that seniors’ spending is a benefit to state coffers. Mississippi and West Virginia are touting themselves as hot spots for older Americans. Some regional economists are lining up behind the idea of supporting low-income older adults by attracting well-heeled outsiders in the same age group.

Judith Stallman, an economist at the University of Missouri in Columbia, found that adding 500 retiree households to a four-county region in Wisconsin would have "a positive fiscal impact on the local economy."

"Most of them own their own homes and are paying property taxes," she explained. "And the older you get, the more likely you are to spend locally rather than drive somewhere else, so you’re paying sales tax."

But the debate in Cheyenne is a reminder that an influx of older workers and retirees comes with costs. Richard Rathge, an economist at North Dakota State University, is trying to persuade state legislators to bolster housing and medical services for older people, just as they would develop infrastructure in anticipation of a new manufacturing plant. "But it’s a very hard sell," he said.

Low Taxes, Affordable Housing

Wyoming finds itself in a unique position. An energy-industry boom in the late 1970s drew baby boomers to the state’s coal, uranium and iron-ore mines and natural-gas companies. Many transplants stayed on, even when those jobs dried up. Meanwhile, a growing number of retirees are settling in the state, attracted by low taxes and affordable housing.

The upshot: By 2020, according to census projections, Wyoming is expected to replace Florida as the state with the largest portion of residents who are 65 and older, nearly 22% of the population. Moreover, one out of every two people in the state will be 60 or older. State officials caution that the census figures could be conservative; Wyoming , they say, could jump past Florida in as few as nine years.

Already, the state faces hurdles in providing services for its elderly. Wyoming’s 494,000 residents are spread over nearly 98,000 square miles. Deborah Fleming, director of the state health department, said her staff has trouble getting enough home-health aides to cover the vast distances between older people needing help with chores. One aide just quit after the only laundry in her town closed, making it impossible for her to wash her clients’ clothes.

Gray Energy

Gov. Freudenthal acknowledged that Wyoming needs to prepare for increasing medical needs, "but I also think it’s important to recognize the energy of this so-called graying population," he said. "We aren’t going to have a vibrant economy for younger people that’s dead to older people."

To counter the "sky-is-falling" mentality about the state’s aging population, as he put it, the governor and the local chapter of AARP, the Washington, D.C., advocacy group for older people, organized the economic-development meeting in Cheyenne earlier this month. As part of the program, leaders from three towns were asked to discuss how older citizens had contributed to their communities.

In Sheridan, a town of 16,000 that sits in the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains, retired executives from the steel industry and Port of Seattle have helped play a role in city planning, particularly for Sheridan’s recent downtown streetscape project, said Mayor Jim Wilson. "They know how things have been planned other places, and they can win people over to their way of thinking," he said.

In Casper, 35 volunteers — most in their 60s — helped the Nicolaysen Art Museum raise more than $300,000 with its "Where the Buffalo Roam" project, through which it placed 30 replicas of the animals on city sidewalks and auctioned them off in September. "Their wealth of knowledge is amazing," said Holly Turner, the museum’s executive director, who noted that the fund-raiser, the institution’s biggest ever, allowed it to erase its $100,000 debt.

And in Cody, city officials — who built a $13 million, 105,000-square-foot aquatics center with an ice arena and three-acre park using no tax money — were surprised when more than 60% of the nearly 6,000 members turned out to be 50 and older. Furthermore, a retired civil engineer worked for free as the city’s construction manager for the project, and has since overseen construction of a skateboard park.

"We have a strong support base from that age group," said Rob Schoeber, Cody’s parks, recreation and public-facilities director.

But when the participants broke into smaller groups, feelings were mixed about whether Wyoming should try to increase its older population. "They’re schizophrenic about it," said Clare Hushbeck, an AARP economist who spoke to the group about the trend toward baby boomers’ working into traditional retirement years.

Bill Sniffin, the former editor and owner of the local newspaper in Lander — who sparked a marketing campaign in the 1980s to attract "vigorous" retirees to the area — is now focused on recruiting young people, particularly those who grew up in Wyoming and moved away.

"Why don’t we go after people who have roots here and invite them home, and help them when they get here?" he asked. "There are tremendous numbers of people who have lost their jobs but stay in that field as consultants," he says. "It’s a lot cheaper to live in Wyoming than New York City."

But some newer retirees to Lander disagree. "With the retirees, you’ve got to have more doctors, lawyers, accountants, gas stations, grocery stores, hardware stores — all those people are going to keep younger people employed," said Marvin Brown, who opened the Blue Spruce Inn Bed and Breakfast in 1994.

"Bringing a retiree is like bringing a new job, and it’s extremely difficult to create new jobs in a place like Wyoming ."

Write to Kelly Greene at [email protected]

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