Mill Creek View Volume XXIII - Issue 18 September 2020 A 5
W
il Let You Know
by Wil Nelson
Wil Nelson
The editorial comments expressed in this column are the sole opinion of the writer.
Mark Harmsworth
PPP helps restaurant stay open
Recently I met with a local restau- rant owner and asked how the state mandated COVID-19 lock down, the PPP loan program and the slow re- opening of the economy had affected their business. The responses were insightful and not always as expected. In March, when the state mandated the closure of restaurants, along with many other businesses, the immediate effect was obvious. A complete loss of revenue income from sales and mount- ing expenses with lease payments, em- ployee expenses and spoiled food and clean-up. For many restaurants, the profit margin is razor thin. On food, it can be as low as 2 to 3%. For restaurants that also have alcohol sales, the profit is higher. Combining alcohol and food sales make a restaurant profit- able. This is one of the reasons that many restaurants opted not to offer food pickup service during the first few weeks of the shutdown. Many restaurants waited until ad- ditional guidance was issued from the state so they knew how pickup service would be regulated and if they could make a profit. For some restaurants, they could only consider pickup ser- vice an option when the state relaxed liquor laws allowing them to offer take out, alcoholic drinks with food orders. For our restaurant owner, this is case. While it opened after being shut initially for three to four weeks, the restaurant was able to at least break even most of the time with a takeout
by Mark Harmsworth
Legislative Update
Small Business Director, Washington Policy Center service. This was possible only with the help of a federal PPP loan offered as help to small businesses as part of the Cares Act passed by congress. The PPP loan enabled the business to keep its doors open, once the state lifted some of the lock down restric- tions. The restaurant employs more than 20 people as wait staff and kitchen workers. Without the PPP loan, there was insufficient customer traf- fic to cover the costs of opening the restaurant. The restaurant has fixed costs, even when closed, including lease payments, electricity for refrig- erators, heaters and other items in the restaurant. At 50% capacity the restaurant is still struggling and needs to stay close to 50% occupancy most of the time to be fiscally viable. The restaurant owner is willing to dip into savings to cover short term losses, but at some point, that money will run out. What is critical for the survival of the business is knowing when the restrictions will be lifted so the financial impact can be fully assessed. Many business owners are willing to take the risk keeping the doors open and people employed if they have cer- tainty in the market and know when they can fully re-open. Certainty in the market is criti- cal for business planning. Recent COVID-19 trends indicate that the worst of the virus may now be behind us. Now is the time to lay out a re- opening schedule for businesses that
Comments expressed in this column are the sole opinion of the writer.
are on the verge of bankruptcy. Without this schedule, we are go- ing to see, unfortunately, some famil- iar names in the list of businesses that closed because of the prolonged, state mandated, lock down. The current approach the state is taking to perpetually extend the lock down, based on fuzzy math and dash- boards disconnected from the data, does not help a restaurant owner plan for the future. The fix for this situation is simple. With COVID-19 clearly in decline, the state should be laying out a timeline for businesses to make plans against.
Canards?
April Berg as you may know is running against Mark James for the 44 Legislative District Position 2, which includes Mill Creek and the surround- ing areas of Marysville, Snohomish and Lake Stevens. This is the seat that was abandoned by Jerad Mead (D) for a seat on the Snohomish County Council, who had previously abandoned his Mill Creek City Council seat after only a few months to run for the legislature. Berg appears to like all new and increased taxes. One of her objectives should she be elected will be to push for a capital gains tax in the upcom- ing legislature. We all know that this is a prelude to a state wide personal income tax! A tax that Olympia dearly wants. Berg may tout the usual platitudes on transportation and education but make no mistake, her main objective is a state wide capital gains tax. Of course, once Olympia has spent all of that money they will just come looking for more ad infinitum. Berg also favors changing state law to approve school bonds and possibly all bonds by 55% or even a simple majority. Should such changes pass the legislature we will have virtually no control over our taxes and government spending.
Having some controls over the leg- islature and other government entities is one of the biggest ways we have to control their behavior. Those elected know they have to come to us for ap- proval. This helps ensure a more con- sidered approach on their part.
Electing Mark James for Position 2 for the 44 Legislative District is even more important so that we can main- tain some control over how we are governed. The 44th District is still considered a swing district. Lets have one of each and maintain our indepen- dent and swing district status. The U.S. Postal Service delivers about 475 million pieces of mail per day. About 100 million additional bal- lots over a 30 day period is only a very minor increase and the post office al- ready has $25 billion from the CARES Act if needed.
Both parties when in power knew there were funding problems with the post office and did nothing until recently. Since at least 2008, the post office has been in deficit spending to
the tune of at least $200 billion. Both
democrat and republican administra- tions since then have done almost
nothing which makes the whole
political discussion on postal service a canard.
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I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: No good in a bed, but fine against a wall. - Eleanor Roosevelt
Quotes from Former First Ladies
Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself, you should have remained a virgin. - Lillian Carter
(Submitted by Katie Cyriax)
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