GREEN BAY, Wis. (NBC26) -- Further financial hardship is knocking on the local economy’s door.
"That’s something I really don’t want to think about but obviously we have to plan for," Jayme Sellen, the Fox Cities Chamber Vice President of Economic Development and Government Affairs, said.
This week, congress passed a new $900 billion Covid relief bill. But it still needs the president’s signature before it’s put into action. Local industries fear a delay.
"That would mean less distribution of vaccines," Sellen said. "That would mean less dollars to our schools. Child care has been a consistent problem throughout the entire pandemic."
Terry Charles is a communications manager at PMI Entertainment Group in Green Bay. His company already laid off more than half of its full-time staff. He says a delay in the relief bill’s passing could make it worse.
"Our industry needed relief yesterday, two weeks ago [and] two months ago," Charles said. "So the longer something like this is delayed, the worst it’s gonna be for everybody, certainly any industry."
During the first round of relief earlier this year, local chambers say the funds proved pivotal for Northeast Wisconsin’s economy.
"That was make or break," Sellen said. "So either you got that money. You were able to make it through a period of time when we had the stay-at-home order and everyone was shut down."
But now the money is running out for local businesses and their employees.
"We’re [Fox Cities Chamber] getting more and more companies coming to us saying 'hey, we need to bridge another gap until we get done with this pandemic.'"
With provisions of current Covid unemployment benefits slated to end this weekend, some say the new bill would add new hope.
"We’re hoping another round of the Payroll Protection Program will, at this point, allow us to maintain some of the crucial staff that we need to continue operating as we are right now," Charles said.
