LMR September 2020

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Louisiana Mayors Urge Congress to Take Action on DirectFederal Aid to Municipalities Impacted by COVID-19On August 19, the Louisiana Municipal Association (LMA)hosted a press conference with mayors from across thestate to discuss the economic effects of the COVID-19crisis on Louisiana’s municipalities and the need forurgent action at the federal level to ensure cities, townsand villages can continue to provide essential servicesto keep their communities safe and support thenational economic recovery. Mayors Ronny Walker ofRuston, David Butler of Woodworth, Nic Hunter of LakeCharles and Ben Zahn of Kenner discussed employment,small business, and infrastructure challenges theirmunicipalities are facing due to the ongoing pandemicand why stalled negotiations in Congress must resume inorder to help communities in Louisiana recover from theeconomic downturn caused by COVID-19.To watch the full press conference,visit the LMA website at www.lma.org.“For our small businesses to come back fully within theCity of Ruston, they’ve got to have essential infrastructureand services in place. We cut our budget this yearby $3.5 million dollars, most of that was for infrastructureprojects that we could have done, so I would say toCongress: please help us,” Ruston Mayor Ronny Walkersaid. “We wouldn’t have had to cut a single person fromour payroll if Congress had done for cities what they didfor businesses. If we could get the same payroll protectionplan that small and large businesses got, that wouldbe a great help to us in Northeast Louisiana.”“We certainly hope that Washington would take a lookat us – we’re small, we’re rural, but we’d a whole lotrather the money come directly to us than go throughthe bureaucracy. We need every penny of that to workwith to go back to some normality of business,” WoodworthMayor David Butler said. “A number of our membersof Congress live in small municipalities, and it’stheir municipalities also that are asking for help. Withoutthe infrastructure – the water, sewer and gas – theeconomic effects of maintaining that begin to get largerand larger.”“We need to provide police, fire, water, sewage, and garbagecollection just like everybody else, and right nowwe need the federal government’s help – we don’t needit forever, we just need it now. I’m a lifelong Republican,I’ve always felt that the federal government should letus manage our own affairs right here in our own citiesand parishes, but I speak to them now saying we needyour help now,” Kenner Mayor Ben Zahn said. “We’reasking for as much as we can get right now becausewe’re all feeling that. We need small businesses, bigbusinesses and government working together to continueour services.”“The fiscal impacts of the pandemic have certainly beena punch in the gut – we expect our sales tax revenue tobe down anywhere from 6 to 10 percent once it’s alreadysaid and done. We are happy to know we do expectsome relief from the CARES Act, but certainly nothingto the extent that would allow us to continue on withthe growth and progressive nature that we want to asa city,” Lake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said. “We need ahand up, not a handout. I do not believe this is a Kennerproblem, a Lake Charles problem, a Woodworth problemor a Ruston problem – this is an American problem, andthis is a municipal problem for every municipality in thiscountry. If Congress really wants to get serious aboutputting people back to work, they need to be thinkinglong-term, not just putting a band-aid on the situation.”Page 18LMR | SEPTEMBER 2020
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Page 1 and 2: Louisiana Municipal ReviewPUBLISHED
Page 3 and 4: Inside the LMADirector’s Viewpoin
Page 5 and 6: Inside the LMAHUD Announces Disaste
Page 7 and 8: Inside the LMALegal BriefsSO, WHERE
Page 9 and 10: MunicipalitiesLMA’s Strong Congre
Page 11 and 12: Municipalitiesflowing again by open
Page 13 and 14: A Word fromOur AffiliatesJennifer V
Page 15 and 16: Partner InsightRural DevelopmentUSD
Page 17: Damage Assessment is Critical to Re
Page 21 and 22: FeatureALWAYS ONFOR YOU.JOHN M. SCH
Page 23 and 24: Feature“So many have lost so much

LMR September 2020

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