County Freezes Spending Due To Loss of Hotel Tax Revenue
The action called on county staff to bring back a proposal to help local small businesses for consideration on April 14.
John Leopold
“We face an extraordinary crisis right now,’” said First District Supervisor John Leopold. “We’ve never gone through this process of shutting down cities, counties, states and now a good part of the nation. There are tens of millions of school children who aren’o going to school. There are tens of millions of businesses that aren’t operating. And that particularly hits Santa Cruz County hard because Santa Cruz County was already experiencing a dire housing crisis.”
Third District Supervisor Ryan Coonerty said, “We cannot add to our homeless population. We do not have the resources to support the people who are currently homeless.”
He added, “If we have a 20% or 30% unemployment rate and we’ve doubled our homeless population, we won’t be able to recover. If we lose a lot of our small businesses, there won’t be businesses to replace them.”
In Santa Cruz County, small businesses with nine or fewer employees comprise 82 percent of employers — “the backbone of our economy,” Leopold said.
“Many of them are closed at the moment — they’re considered non-essential, he said. “The tourism industry, the education industry are impacted by the ‘stay in place’ orders.”
Statistics on jobs losses are not available. The state Employment Development Department’s layoff list was last updated March 10, and the jobs report for March isn’t due out til April 17.
However, with many employees out of work, non-essential workers staying home, non-essential businesses closed, and other local businesses seeing a loss of customers, the economic impacts of the outbreak are apparent.
Lost Hotel Taxes
County Administrative Officer Carlos Palacio expects “a significant blow to the county budget,” a loss of at least 25 percent of anticipated hotel tax and fee revenue. He announced a freeze on hiring and spending.
Both Leopold and Coonerty voiced hope for help coming from the state and federal government but it’s unclear when that might happen.
Although tenants, residential and commercial, can’t be evicted under this urgency ordinance, they still have to pay rent.
“This is going to be a negotiation between every tenant and every landlord,” Coonerty said.
Landlord Everett Downs, who is retired and depends on his rental to supplement Social Security, worried, “If you have a deadbeat tenant, why should I be instructed to subsidize that person?”
“It is critical we do something right now,” said Fifth District Supervisor Bruce McPherson, asking how to help small businesses given the county budget shortfall.
Leopold suggested a “bridging loan” until federal aid is available and added, “Figure out what’s the most effective tool, then figure out how to pay for it.”
24 Cases
Dr. Gail Newel
On March 4, Santa Cruz County Public Health Officer Dr. Gail Newel declared a local health emergency, which was ratified by the Board of Supervisors on March 10. The Board of Supervisors then issued a “shelter in place” order March 16 to slow spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, and on March 19, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide shelter-in-place order and gave local governments the authority to suspend evictions.
Newel on Tuesday reported 24 COVID-19 cases and one fatality at Watsonville Community Hospital, a Monterey County man, so his death will not be included in Santa Cruz County statistics.
Globally, more than 18,600 people have died and 108,000 have recovered, in the U.S. 52,000 cases, 684 deaths and 370 recovered, and in California 2,400 cases and 49 deaths.
Steve Trujillo of Watsonville said the coronavirus has a bigger impact on the LGBT community due to their compromised resistance to viruses.
Monica McGuire of Corralitos told the supervisors that one thing people can do, and was done in China to prevent coronavirus deaths, is boosting the immune system with mega-doses of vitamin C. She said details are available online from the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service.
“A Long Event”
Mimi Hall, who heads the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency, said Tuesday she expects a surge of cases and is working to expand hospital capacity to care for them.
With the social distancing rules in place, the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors Meeting Room was limited to 13 people. All other presentations were done via teleconferencing, some from inside the building, some from other buildings.
“This is going to be a long event,” she predicted. “It’s not going to be over in two weeks or three weeks.”
She said the county is prioritizing face masks for people at high risk and health care workers with known or potential exposure because there is not enough protective equipment. She encouraged donations for masks.
She said for reasons of capacity, testing is being reserved for health care workers and hospitalized people with symptoms. Even with that policy, many more tests — 154 — have been negative compared to 24 positive.
Tests require personal protective equipment, so even as testing ramps up, Hall said tests will be allocated carefully to avoid draining the supply of protective gear that she expects will be needed in the future.
60-Room Motel
Elisa Benson, assistant county administrative officer, said the county is poised to sign a lease for a 60-room motel as sheltering space for several groups of people: Those who are homeless, have tested positive, have symptoms and need isolation and care; those who are homeless and have been exposed with no symptom but require quarantine; and for vulnerable elders and medically fragile people experiencing homelessness. The goal is to be in operation by end of the week.
She said there are very few surplus state lands in the county that could be used, but use of the county fairgrounds property is under discussion and more sites are needed.
She said the county’s $800,000 homeless allocation goes only so far, “$100 a night, it’s only 250 rooms, not enough to address the need we have.”
The most recent count estimated 2,200 people in the county are homeless.
Property Taxes Due
Property taxes are due 5 p.m. April 10, with the law allowing penalties and interest to be waived on a case-by-case basis.
“I plan to be as lenient as the law will allow,” Auditor-Controller Edith Driscoll said Tuesday.
“The majority of people are paying electronically,” she said, suggesting people paying by check drop the mail I the mail now.
Payments can be left in a yellow drop box outside the county government building at 701 Ocean St., Santa Cruz.
She said she plans to give people paying in cash 5-10 extra days to come in and pay.
Legislation has been proposed to address penalties and interest for late payment but has not passed.
New Procedures
To spread people out, some of the public comments for the meeting were made from outside the board room. These people were streaming their presentations from the basement of the Santa Cruz County Governmental Center.
Board of Superviors’ meetings are taking place with new procedures — a limit of 13 people in the meeting room with teleconferencing in the community room in the basement of the county Governmental Center.
Supervisor Greg Caput, who chairs the board, sat at the center of the dais, with Coonerty in the farthest chair to the left and Leopold in the farthest chair to the right, to provide the physical distancing recommended by health officials. McPherson and Supervisor Zach Friend participated remotely.
The public is encouraged to participate online at www.santacruzcounty.us.
Hover your mouse over the “Government” dropdown menu, then the “Board of Supervisors” tab, then click on the March 24 agenda, where live video of the meeting can be viewed. Click on comment bubbles next to each item to submit live comments. First-time users will need to sign up for an account first.
County services remain operational, with most employees working from home.
Santa Cruz Moratorium
The City of Santa Cruz City Council was slated to consider March 24 a moratorium on evictions of residential renters and commercial businesses from evictions during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Also, the council was to consider taking action to encourage banks and other financial institutions to halt foreclosures related to COVID-19 economic disaster. n
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If you have questions about COVID-19, the countywide response line is 831-454-4242. Residents can also call 211 or text 211211 for public health information.
Also, if you’re interested in watching the meeting, it’s currently available at https://santacruzcountyca.iqm2.com/Citizens/SplitView.aspx?Mode=Video&MeetingID=1796&Format=Agenda