A southwest Iowa county still recovering from last year's flood is bracing for another big economic blow due to COVID-19 Coronavirus.
Leaders In Mills County have already begun talking job cuts. “Maybe we do have to cut jobs, maybe we do have to have everyone take a cut in pay,” Carol Vinton, Mills County Supervisor, tells 6 News. “You know there are several options, do we want to do it, absolutely not.”
Vinton said the timing of the pandemic could not have been much worse. “When the swimming pools are not open, the bars are not open, that has an impact on the city, the county itself,” she says. “So that’s going to come on top of what we’ve been impacted by the flood.”
The flood cost the county millions of dollars upfront. They are now waiting for federal funds to shore up the budget.
“In the meantime, we still had to buy gravel for the roads, we still had to fix the bridges, we still had to get all the necessities done now,” Vinton says, noting the federal funds need to move faster.
“Have we been reimbursed? Absolutely not, are we afraid of how much longer it’s going to take, because now we’ve got another expense of the virus? Absolutely. Vinton tells 6 News.
Floodwaters forced hundreds of families from their homes. Many of them have not returned, which means a loss in property tax revenue.
The loss of people impacts funding for everything from roads to sewers. Vinton said they’ll do everything possible to avoid job cuts and if it does come to letting people go, certain departments will be spared.
“That is your sheriff's department, that is your emergency, your 911 department, and your fire department, you’ve got to have that,” she says. “I cannot stress enough of how we can’t touch that.”
Economists recently updated a report on the impact of COVID-19 on the state of Iowa. Through early May it estimates the economy lost more $2.7 billion. By the end of the year, it estimates the state’s economy could be reduced by nearly 18 billion dollars.
(Photo: 6 News)