Wyandotte County looks to economic recovery

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Opinion column

by Murrel Bland

A 25-member committee, formed by Mayor David Alvey and including business leaders, is helping Wyandotte County adjust to changes caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. K. Allen Greiner, the Unified Government’s chief medical officer, issued a continuation of the stay-at-home order, effective until midnight May 10. At that time, if data allows, Wyandotte County will enter the “red zone” of the “Restart WyCo Road to Recovery.” If all goes well, Wyandotte County will move through the “yellow zone” and, later on, the “green zone.”

Mayor Alvey was quick to admit that the pandemic “has caused enormous hardship on families and businesses in our community.” He said it will be important to gradually restore and reopen the economy in the right way.

The “red zone” of the restart effort relaxes the stay–at–gome requirements, but recommends the highest level of caution for vulnerable persons. The “yellow zone” relaxes stay-at-home requirements even further while allowing more businesses to open under caution. The “green zone” is the least stringent with few restrictions. Details of the restart can be found at www.wycokck.org/COVID-19. These zones are similar to ones proposed by Gov. Laura Kelly.

The Unified Commission, meeting Thursday night, April 30, learned that the pandemic could cost the local government as much as $35 million this year and as much as $22 million in 2021. A large loss will come from lack of sales tax; two major contributors, Nebraska Furniture Mart and Legends Outlet, have been closed for several weeks.

County Administrator Doug Bach said, despite this loss, he does not anticipate a mill rate increase in local property taxes. The Unified Government has implemented a hiring freeze except for critical positions such as police and fire.

Mike Taylor, the lobbyist for the Unified Government, said Congress is debating how much the federal government will help state and local government. He said the state of Kansas is estimated to lose $1.2 billion as a result of the pandemic.

Taylor said the speaker of the House, U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) wants to give state and local government $1 trillion; however, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), the majority leader of the Senate, suggested that states go bankrupt. Taylor said a compromise of about $500 billion could be a possibility.

Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He is the executive director of Business West.

SBA approves $3.73 billion in loan relief for Kansas small businesses

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, has announced the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved 19,915 loans totaling $3.73 billion in federal relief dollars reaching Kansas small businesses.

The SBA was awarded a supplemental funding through the Phase III Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

“Less than three weeks following passage of the CARES Act, almost $4 billion has been dispersed to Kansas small businesses to keep their lights on, save jobs and keep employees on the payroll,” Sen. Moran said in a statement. “Our local lenders have worked tirelessly to get a year’s worth of lending into their customers’ hands in a matter of weeks – despite the many challenges of navigating a new system. Resources for this job-saving program will run out in the next few days. Kansas workers deserve relief and I hope Congress will act quickly to make certain there is sufficient funding.”

KDOL website schedules down time today to fix problems

The Kansas Department of Labor website will be taken down for an hour at noon today, April 14, to fix issues with the website, according to an announcement today on the website.

The KDOL website has been struggling because of the heavy load placed on it by enormous unemployment claim volumes, according to the website.

The KDOL phone lines will remain open during the time the website is down, according to the announcement.

Another down time for the website will be at 7 p.m. April 14, when it will be down for one hour, according to the announcement.

Officials were hoping for better customer service after the website is restored, according to the announcement.

The KDOL website is https://www.dol.ks.gov/ and the unemployment benefits website address is getkansasbenefits.gov.

A KDOL unemployment phone number for callers from the Kansas City area is 913-596-3500.

The website is the preferred method to file for unemplyment, when the website is working.