Mayor Lenny Curry said the COVID-19 aid package his administration is developing will benefit business owners and workers.
During a news conference March 27, Curry repeated earlier statements that he would have an outline next week of the city-backed package to work out with City Council.
“This is important not only for business owners, but also for employees and the people who work in the city of Jacksonville,” Curry said.
Council member and Finance Committee Chair Aaron Bowman said a small business aid program could include waiving fees for city services, leeway on pending payments or direct stimulus money.
“Those are all things we need to look at,” he said. “I think I would support anything that gets our city up and running and keeps businesses from going under that are strong businesses,” Bowman said in a phone interview March 27.
Curry said in a March 26 virtual news conference that there’s “a very high possibility” the plan will include direct financial assistance.
Bowman said he spoke with the mayor March 26. The size of the aid package has not been finalized and it’s not clear how the Curry administration will pay for it.
Council Auditor Kyle Billy said via email March 27 that the mayor could unilaterally transfer money from city accounts or tap into the city’s reserve fund with Council approval.
Bowman said the city has sufficient borrowing capacity to pay for a stimulus package through debt, but he said it’s too early to determine if that would be needed.
“What concerns me is we’re working on next year’s budget right now. What’s the impact of that going to be? Are we going to have to make cuts?” Bowman said. “I think everything we were thinking a month ago has to be relooked at.”
Lower-than-projected sales and property tax revenue created by the COVID-19 response could shift priorities in the mayor’s 2020-21 fiscal year budget, Curry said March 19.
The finance committee, which would vet legislation containing the aid before it went to the full Council, is expected to meet virtually April 6, Bowman said. Council President Scott Wilson could call a special meeting to consider city-backed small businesses aid sooner.
“Obviously, the unemployment rate is very high. We need to decide what we can do as a city that can relieve things that are making it difficult for these businesses,” Bowman said.
Florida recorded 74,021 claims for unemployment insurance for the week ended March 21, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s compared to 6,463 claims filed the previous week.
Local claim numbers for Jacksonville are not yet available.
Work from home
The city is making a best practice guide for businesses not in compliance with Curry’s March 23 executive order mandating that employers allow their employees to perform their jobs remotely, if possible.
The city has received 70 complaints from Jacksonville-area workers as of 1:30 p.m. March 27 claiming their companies have not complied with the order.
Curry said March 27 that code enforcement soon will start engaging with businesses whose complaints are found credible.
Curry added that workers whose job duties require them to be at the workplace should wash their hands frequently, stay at least 6 feet from coworkers and cover their nose and mouth when they sneeze and cough.
City Hall also aggregated a list of loan and grant assistance for small businesses and workers impacted by COVID-19 at coj.net/recoveryresourses.
No shelter in place
Curry said he does not intend to strengthen his social distancing and work from home mandates to order people to shelter in place, a move that has shut down more of the economy in other U.S. states by keeping all but essential workers at home.
“I do not believe it would be the best decision for the health of the people of our city,” Curry said. “Where we’ve seen these orders in other states and other countries, some of the behaviors or detrimental or opposite of what the stay-at-home order intends to happen.”
Curry cited reports from Los Angeles, the state of California and New York City of people leaving for other areas of the U.S. and crowding public places after shelter-in-place orders were issued.
According to CNN.com, video and photos posted to social media showed groups of people standing in close contact on hiking trails and beaches in Los Angeles after California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a shelter-in-place order March 20.
Curry said officials in other Florida counties have had to amend the order as businesses argue that they should be considered essential.
“In some cases, you’ll look and all businesses are up and operating,” Curry said. “So, the order is simply something that makes people feel good and makes them think they’re feeling safer.”