Initial unemployment claims in Chautauqua County have increased 22.7% in the first three weeks of April 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

“Lost Revenue and State Aid Cuts: Coronavirus Economic Impact on Counties” updated information originally compiled in March and was released Friday as a plea for additional federal aid for counties and local governments. The study cites state Labor Department statistics for the four weeks ending April 18, 2020, showing Chautauqua County had 7,856 initial unemployment claims, which is 22.7 times the initial 331 claims filed during the same time in 2019.

The study also pegs the potential sales tax loss in Chautauqua County as being between 9.6% and 22.9%, depending on how severe an economic downturn hits the county as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Potential occupancy tax losses in Chautauqua County could range between $808,329 and $1,326,776 and potential gaming tax losses are forecast to be between $264,960 and $397,440.

The report also includes a rough analysis of possible state aid cuts outlined by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in recent weeks. Those cuts are based on how poor state tax receipts turn out to be at the end of April when accounted for by Robert Mujica, state budget director, and how much federal aid is received to offset the decreased tax receipts. For Chautauqua County, a 20% aid cut, which is the number most typically mentioned by the governor, would result in $6,556,782 less in revenue.

NYSAC officials wrote that their analysis of data that has come in so far show initial impacts on the nation will be sharper and happen more quickly than falloffs in economic activity in past recessions, that New York state will be harder hit than other parts of the country and that no region of New York will be spared from the economic slowdown.

“The more severe of the two scenarios in no way represents a worst case,” the study states. “Events are unfolding as rapidly as are governments’ responses. So far the federal government has enacted four separate COVID-19 response and recovery bills that are slated to spend nearly $3 trillion. These bills, however, provided negligible assistance to states and localities to help replace lost revenues considering the scope of the losses projected.”

In April, Reps. Tom Reed, R-Corning, and Josh Gottheimer, D-New Jersey, pushed back against Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s comments regarding allowing states and local governments to fall into bankruptcy amidst this unprecedented crisis.

“We strongly disagree with the idea that the federal government can sit by and let our local governments, and the thousands of essential front-line workers, including law enforcement, firefighters, and health care workers, go bankrupt. New York and New Jersey are the states with the two largest COVID-19 caseloads in the country. Through daily communication and coordination with our own state, municipal, and local governments, we know firsthand the immense impact that local governments and their officials are having in keeping Americans safe. We will continue to speak out against Senator McConnell or any other colleague of ours who fails to see the vital role local governments are playing in communities across our country. If state and local economies fail then our national economy will fail, as well.”

Earlier this week, the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, co-chaired by Reed and Gottheimer, unveiled its Reopening and Recovery “Back to Work” Checklist, a multi-prong, data-driven proposal focused on reopening America safely and reigniting the economy. This checklist included direct investments into states, counties, cities, towns, and tribal governments, citing that additional resources should go to states and directly to all counties, municipalities, and tribal governments that were excluded in previous coronavirus relief packages because of pre-existing funding formulas and qualifying population counts.

Sens. Charles Schumer, D-New York and minority leader, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, is also calling for additional federal aid for state and local governments. The Democrats favor a local relief fund split 50-50 between cities, towns and villages with the other half given to counties.