Town taking steps to help its business community
The Town of Halfmoon on Monday announced a new business initiative designed to lend official town support to its business community; one like many others across the country hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and health guidelines.
The new initiative, “Loving That We Live in Halfmoon – Shop Our Local Businesses”, was launched by Supervisor Kevin Tollisen and the Town Board.
Over the next several weeks the town will highlight a variety of local Halfmoon businesses daily on the town website and its Facebook page. The project is intended to highlight food service, retail, charitable organizations, and others that have invested in Halfmoon.
“We encourage all of our town residents, friends, and businesses to share our posts and to shop local; we need to keep our area businesses thriving.” Tollisen said in a statement announcing the program. “We will get through these difficult times and we will be better and stronger together.”
Pete Bardunias, Senior Vice president of Community Advancement for the Capital Region Chamber, an organization that includes many of the businesses in Halfmoon, applauded the effort saying it was something that’s needed in a time when so many small businesses are hurting.
“We want to be supportive and helpful in their effort,” he said. “It’s always good to remind everybody there’s a lot of things you can get right here, locally, that a lot of people take for granted.”
Bardunias said using social media like Facebook for such an initiative is a good idea because people as well as businesses and organizations use it all the time. He will share the Halfmoon posts on the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County’s Facebook page as well as his own personal page and he expects others will be doing the same.
There is no doubt small businesses are having a difficult time of it. Pointing to all the modes of relief that keep coming, Bardunias said they are a lagging indicator that businesses are having challenges right now and need all the help they can get.
An example of just how hard it’s become for small business can be seen in a small business credit survey by the 12 Federal Reserve Banks last fall. The report is the result of a survey of nearly 10,000 businesses from all 50 states. It was undertaken shortly after the initial Paycheck Protection Program closed and found few firms had avoided the negative impacts of the pandemic.
Ninety-five percent reported the pandemic impacted their business; 26 percent closed temporarily, 56 percent reduced their operations and 48 percent modified their operations. Of those that faced disruptions more than 50 percent cited changes in demand, government mandates, or the need to adapt to health and safety guidelines as reasons their businesses were affected.
Ninety-one percent of the firms applied for some type of emergency funding during the first six months of the pandemic citing the PPP as the most commonly used program.
Thirty-nine percent expect they will be unlikely to survive until sales return to 2019 levels without further government assistance. They see a challenging year ahead with an expected decrease in revenue
in the next 12 months.
Bardunias agreed with the assessment saying it is much more complex equation right now for what it takes for a business to be successful; a lot more uncertainty then what businesses were expecting under normal circumstances.
“I’m glad to see the Town of Halfmoon’s effort to get the word out,” he said. “I’m sure it’s going to help the businesses in that community by getting more information to people.”
By Tuesday the town had uploaded photos and addresses for 18 businesses on its Facebook page in two separate posts.
The postings drew immediate positive comments from viewers who noted which ones they favored and others that could use a little support as well. Noting an abundance of chain businesses in Tuesday’s photos, one viewer said she’d like to see more privately –owned small businesses represented.
The initiative to support local businesses in and organizations in Halfmoon will continue on for several weeks.