Amid COVID-19's devastating effects on the local economy, Squamish businesses voiced their concerns about their livelihoods to Sea to Sky politicians in a virtual town hall meeting on April 2.
Held by the Squamish Chamber of Commerce, it brought together Mayor Karen Elliott, MLA Jordan Sturdy and MP Patrick Weiler to address the challenges local entrepreneurs have been facing.
For much of the time, politicians were outlining financial relief that has been well-documented in the last few days.
However, at the end of the meeting, there were still a number of key question marks in the air about commercial rent, property tax and the wage subsidy program.
To start, Weiler, for example, spoke of the federal 75% wage subsidy, the $40,000 loan program to small businesses, as well as mortgage and student loan deferrals.
Sturdy spoke of provincial initiatives such as rental support and the BC Hydro assistance program, among other things. He noted that he counted himself as a small business owner hit by the pandemic.
"Where there's a gap, it seems to me, is there are many businesses that remain open — just barely, with minimal revenue — and there's no relief for those businesses," he said. "And I include myself in that particular circumstance."
Elliott talked of how the municipality has shut down gathering areas such as the library and recreation centre. The District has also redeployed staff affected by the closures to help at local non-profits or to serve as couriers to move documents.
"We try to make sure everyone is participating in the work that's being done around this emergency," said Elliott.
Perhaps one of the biggest issues raised by local business owners was concerning commercial rent. Many small business owners have been warning that they may not be able to pay their landlords the next time rent comes due. They've been advocating for a deferral or forgiveness program similar to what's been given to the residential sector.
"Our house leader has been working with the solicitor Farnworth on this issue…[it] is a constant source of discussion, but we haven't any sense... if the province is willing to," Sturdy said.
Weiler said that programs that give business access to credit could help pay the bills in the meantime.
"We do realize that this is one of the biggest costs... that's one of the reasons why we've worked with the banks to have allowed for mortgage payment deferrals," he said. "We hope that that's going to be extended to tenants as well."
He also said the federal government is hoping to reduce interest rates on things like credit card debt.
There were also questions about whether the municipal property tax deadlines could be deferred in light of the pandemic.
Elliott said it's unclear if the province would allow for such a thing.
"It's a big unknown for us," Elliott said. "Council's going to take a good hard look at what this is looking like. We don't have a crystal ball. This is a really tough situation."
Another major topic raised by business owners was the wage subsidy program. One of the requirements is that owners must demonstrate a 30% decrease in revenue from the same time last year. However, new businesses may be left vulnerable if their revenue history doesn't back that far.
Also, making this calculation becomes difficult in cases where businesses grow. A business may still lose a substantial amount of money, but this may not register as a 30% loss if a business has expanded.
Weiler said that it's something that's still being worked on.
"I don't have a straight answer for that yet, but what I can say is those eligible requirements are going to [become] more clear in the next few days," he said.
