Illinois State House District 106 issued the following announcement on Nov. 10.
Business Interruption Grant program slow to provide assistance
A report from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) has shown that the state has been slow to help many struggling businesses which have applied for assistance through the new Business Interruption Grant (BIG) program.
The BIG program was created in the spring to help the many businesses which have been hit hard by the pandemic shutdowns. Every month DCEO is required to file a report with the Restore Illinois Collaborative Commission, of which I am a member. The latest report was filed last week. It showed that even though 4000 grants have gone out, totaling $95 million, the state’s small business community has reported that the figure is still far short of the amount needed to keep the state’s struggling businesses afloat.
the stay-at-home orders were issued back in the spring, Illinois’ unemployment quickly tripled, and many of those jobs have still not returned. We have to do more to help.
State releases coronavirus contact tracing data
Last week I told you that I had joined in the effort to make the state’s contact tracing data public. These figures are used to determine which parts of the state are shifted backwards into ‘enhanced mitigation’ because of increases in coronavirus cases, but the numbers produced by the efforts have not been available for public review. We need to see this data to better understand how and why public health officials are making decisions.
On Friday, the Department of Public Health at last made that information available. The state will begin publishing data, “representing outbreaks and exposure locations for cases of COVID-19 in a variety of setting types, to be updated on a weekly basis.” The information to be found includes outbreak locations, exposure locations and school exposures. To find out more, please click here.
Sales tax revenue increases in October, but challenges remain ahead
As some of those small businesses re-open, and other economic activity gradually resumes, the state has been able to collect more in sales tax revenue according to a report filed with the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.
In October the state collected $787 million in sales tax revenue, which was an improvement of $44 million from the same time last year. The additional revenue was sorely needed because the state continues to lag in revenue from other sources like casino taxes, which fell from $21 million in October 2019 to zero in October 2020.
Challenges remain ahead, however, as the state works to climb out of the revenue it has been placed into by the economic disruptions. The re-imposition of some lockdown orders throughout the state due to a rise in coronavirus cases have once again driven down sales tax revenue from restaurants, not to mention the jobs which have been lost. It is expected that Illinois’ revenue picture will suffer another harsh blow next month.
Original source can be found here.
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