HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-06-01-R RESOLUTION NO. o oc-�o-Ob-D) -f?
A RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF FAIR AND DIRECT FEDERAL EMERGENCY
MONETARY SUPPORT TO REOPEN AND REBUILD LOCAL AMERICAN
ECONOMIES BY PROVIDING CRITICAL ASSISTANCE TO LOCAL
MUNICIPALATIES PROVIDING ESSENTIAL SERVICES TO THEIR CITIZENS
WHEREAS, America's cities, towns and villages face unprecedented threats due to the
ongoing COVID-19 pandemic emergency; and
WHEREAS, municipalities are essential to America's economic recovery and without
funding support for local governments, municipalities may go from being a critical part of the
economic solution, to becoming a major obstacle to long-term stabilization and recovery; and
WHEREAS, America's cities, towns and villages will experience budgetary shortfalls in
fiscal year 2020 and the negative effects of the pandemic emergency on local communities will
continue for the foreseeable future; and
WHEREAS, at least three million critical municipal jobs are at risk, threatening cuts to
basic services, including police, fire, sanitation, water and wastewater services,maintenance and
emergency response; and
WHEREAS, communities have taken extraordinary measures to protect health, safety,and
the continuation of these essential services throughout the emergency; and
WHEREAS, the City of Batesville, Arkansas has been impacted negatively by having to
alter work schedules to ensure entire departments continue operating with minimum likelihood of
exposure to COVID-19; and
WHEREAS, the City of Batesville, Arkansas has been impacted negatively by having to
postphone and limit needed collaborative meetings; and
WHEREAS, the distribution of revenues from sales taxes lags collections by two to three
months and the City of Batesville, Arkansas expects those revenues to be potentailly reduced by
significant amounts based on actual reported state sales tax collections; and
WHEREAS, the City of Batesville, Arkansas has been impacted negatively by
experiencing reduced revenues from water and wastewater services as businesses have been closed
or operating hours reduced for extended periods; and
WHEREAS,the City of Batesville, Arkansas has been impacted negatively by having to
close or severly restrict the use of its Community & Aquatics Center thereby depriving it of
needed revenue; and
WHEREAS, the City of Batesville, Arkansas has been impacted negatively by reductions
in the collection of its advertising and promotions tax and its tax on alcoholic beverages served by
restuarants; and
WHEREAS, America's rural communities and small towns are likely struggling more
than big cities because many of them have insufficlent reserves to weather this crisis and risk
being left behind or wiped out entirely.
NOW, THEREFORE,BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Batesville, Arkansas
implores Congress to allocate fair and direct federal monetary support to all of America's
communities, regardless of population size; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this funding must be flexible in addressing not only
the additional expenses incurred by communities to respond to the pandemic emergency, but also
the dramatic and significant budgetary shortfalls resulting from reductions in commerce, tourism,
and other economic engines; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that local governments will ensure federal funds are
immediately used to rebuild and reopen the national economy; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that said funding will ensure that workers continue to be
employed providing critical services to the people in its community; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the City of Batesville, Arkansas has been part of
the COVID-19 emergency response and now calls on Congress to build a united national
partnership with local governments to ensure a safe, healthy, and prosperous life for all citizens in
our country.
APPROVED this 16" day of June,2020.
Rick Elumbaugh, Mayor `
9
ATTEST:
Denise Johnston, ty Clerk