As Restrictions Ease For Churches, Businesses Mayor Hopes for Swift Pandemic Recovery

NEBRASKA CITY – Nebraska City Mayor Bryan Bequette talked about rolling back social distancing restrictions and the long-term economic impact of the outbreak of the new coronavirus.

The Nebraska City Health Board recently trimmed its health directive to match a May 4 relaxation of some pandemic measures.

Bequette: “This is really just the big things, restaurants being able to seat at 50 percent, coming in and sitting down and being six feet from another group. Being able to raise the number of our daycare classrooms from 10 to 15.

“The big thing also is our churches and houses of worship. After the 4th being able to have gatherings underneath the distancing rules. We’re waiting for the details on that. The religious community has been working with the governor on that to see how they are going to implement that and all the measures that will be in effect for it. I’m sure there are a lot of people who are anxious to get back around their church bodies and their communities and their parishes and be able to start worshiping together again.”

He said the city is drawing back on spending for some capital improvement projects as they assess the economic impact of the pandemic locally.

He said sales tax is a fourth of the city’s income.

Bequette: “Last year on the flood our local, smaller retailers had a rough time and we knew they were going through a rough time, but, when the sales tax numbers came in, we were still up on sales tax. I think that was because some of our bigger retailers got more business, possibly from all the traffic coming down Highway 75, as well as the Internet sales tax went into effect.

“That may have hidden some of the bad impact that our local, small businesses were suffering and I think they are suffering now.”

Bequette said sales tax reports typically lag behind, so the city will not see March sales tax figures until the end of May. He said it continues to be important to support small businesses.

 Bequette: “We want to keep Central vibrant. We want to keep all our small businesses on other streets vibrant. Our small businesses are a big part of Nebraska City. I know big events like Arbor Day and Apple Jack you put those together for some of these businesses and it’s a significant amount of their annual revenue. So now we’re going to have to hope for AppeJack, it’s the next big one.”

Economic Developer Dan Mauk said the number of new unemployment filing spiked three weeks ago, but had dropped down. There were 50 new, local claims last week.

The city has also suspended payments for 16 business with loans through the LB840 program.

Mauk said he is hoping to get Nebraska business back up to speed soon to minimize economic losses.