Primary Health to build Cherry Lane clinic
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AN EDITION OF THE IDAHO PRESS-TRIBUNE // MYMERIDIANPRESS.COM // 03.18.16
Mad about
Money
Mad City Money helps teens think about budgeting
H
By Holly Beech • hbeech@mymeridianpress.com
e wants a motorcycle. She wants to put the money in savings. That’s just one scenario students faced Monday night at Mad City Money, an event that simulates adulthood for teens so they can make true-to-life spending choices on things like going out to eat or cooking dinner, buying a new car or settling for a used one. They also have to choose what type of housing, clothing and fun stuff they can afford while also raising a child and paying off student loan or credit card debt. “It’s more difficult than it looks, the decisions. You have to make to make sure you can afford everything,” Erina Fuhriman, a freshman at Renaissance High School said. Her game partner, Rocky Mountain High School sophomore Courtney Butterworth, said Fuhriman’s expensive taste was straining their budget. “I’ve threatened to divorce her like four times now,” Butterworth joked. “I’m not the spender, I just need more,” Fuhriman contended. She needed a new truck for her job as a carpenter, she said. That new truck came with expenses of $585 a month, compared with Butterworth’s used car expenses of $205 a month. Volunteer Kathy Chambers chuckled at the debate. She’s helped with Mad City Money for the last five years. Only one team had to return its car purchase this year — a luxury car that they had to trade in for a bus pass in order to pay off debt, she said. Mad City Money is a curriculum from the Credit Union National Association that’s used nationwide to build budgeting skills in teenagers and to help them start thinking about life decisions and expenses they’ll face in just one to four years as adults. CadEd Credit Union helped lead the event Monday with the Meridian Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council at Forward Movement Training in Meridian. About 50 local high school students attended. “The concept is awesome,” Forward Movement Training owner Matt Schneider said. The facility has a mock house and credit union that’s typically used for safety training, but in this case worked well to help the budgeting simulation come to life. “This is an actual area that these kids can take and better themselves for eventual adulthood and decisions they’ll have to make,” Scheinder said. “It’s very valuable. I wish I would have had this when I was a kid.” Students said Mad City Money made them think about — and appreciate — everyday expenses that their parents cover, such as the Internet bill and gas. “It was a wonderful experience,” Rocky Mountain senior Drake Heithoff, chair of MYAC, said. “It made me realize that if you want nicer things, you’re going to have to work harder for it, because it’s not just going to come to you.” After calculating daycare expenses and formula costs, Bishop Kelly High School freshman Carson Curtis said his monthly income, which seemed like a lot at first, didn’t stretch as far as he expected. Andy Hobson, a parent who was volunteering at the childcare booth, said students’ eyes got big when they saw that daycare would cost them $800 a month; but having that startling realization now rather than latHolly Beech/MP er is good for them.
inside
Brianna Siddoway figures out a food budget with volunteer Wendy Krumm at Mad City Money in Meridian on Monday.
Please see Money, page 10
LOCAL
ELECTIO N 2016
A place to relive childhood memories could be coming to Meridian, as a local couple is planning to build the city’s first rollerskating rink in recent memory.
C M Y K
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Holly Beech/MP
CapEd’s Lisa Hamilton helps students crunch budget numbers at Mad City Money in Meridian on Monday.
ON THE TOWN Love the soothing voice and easy melodies of James Taylor? Don’t miss his stop in Boise this summer.
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ELECTIONS
CITY
The candidate filing period for state, county and congressional elections has ended. Find out who is seeking to represent you.
An annual audit of the city of Meridian’s finances shows a clean report with increased savings and revenue.
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