OCR Text |
Show Report Shows Utah Old Age Payments At AB! Time High Old age assistance payments in Utah for the month of October Oc-tober 1946 reached an all-time high of $540,095 and there is every indication that old age payments for the current fiscal year will rise well above the 6V2 million dollar mark, according accor-ding to a recent report issued by the Utah Foundation. There were 3,544 recipients in March 1936 when the state program commenced, the Foundation Foun-dation points out. The number reached a peak of 14,757 grantees gran-tees in January 1942. "Average monthly payments under the old-age program show an almost uninterrupted increase I since the inception of the pro-1 pro-1 gram on a state basis," continues the Foundation report. For the fiscal year ending June 30.1937 the total payments amounted to $1,427,588. Total payments during dur-ing the next fiscal year jumped 136 percent, and have continued to increase with only minor fluctuations. Present plans of the State Department of Welfare contemplate contem-plate a "complete price study twice yearly of the items entering enter-ing into the standard budget. If changes in the cost of living indicated by these surveys warrant war-rant increases or decreases in the public assistance payments, such adjustments may be authorized auth-orized by the Welfare Commis-ision. The Bureau of Research and Statistics reports that by 1950 the old age recipients in the State of Utah will number between be-tween 17,000 and 19.000. If there is no further liberalizing of the Old Age Trogram the payments to recipients will require between be-tween 8Vfe million and 9Vmillion dollars annually. |