Council members call for NoCo economic-recovery response
LOVELAND and JOHNSTOWN — City council members from Loveland and Johnstown have called for a region-wide economic-response coalition to form among Northern Colorado local governments to help small businesses survive the COVID-19 virus closures.
Kevin Lemasters, council member from Johnstown, and John Fogle, councilman from Loveland, jointly issued a written statement making the call in hopes of harnessing any federal or state aid that might become available and also to find ways to apply local resources jointly
“Small businesses are the heart of our communities, and we need to do everything we can to position them for success as we are heading toward recovery,” Fogle said in the statement. “I am calling on the Loveland City Council to look at a full business recovery plan for what we can do to help alleviate the economic pain of this crisis. While the city of Loveland and others have taken small steps in regard to sales tax and the like, we are going to have to think bigger. I believe part of this plan should include a six-month pause of charging late fees/interest on sales taxes for businesses impacted by COVID-19, or even go so far as a three- to six-month tax holiday for those businesses hit especially hard, like local restaurants and small local retailers. Governments operate on a much larger scale and margin than small business; we have to find ways to absorb everything we can to save as many of them as possible.”
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“I appreciate John’s leadership in Loveland and will be calling on our council [Johnstown] to explore similar solutions. However, we also need to be promoting regional collaboration. With dollars that will be coming from the federal government, and the state being poised as well to create some sort of stimulus, the Northern Colorado community needs to be speaking with one voice,” Lemasters said.
Lemasters and Fogle ask that Northern Colorado communities designate one elected official and one staff member from each community to join a NoCo COVID-19 economic-response task force to share ideas for economic recovery in their communities, as well as ensure that leaders are talking about the best way to leverage federal and state dollars in the region.
A Facebook page to collect ideas and collaborate has been started.
