The Clarendon Hills Village Board plans in January to discuss offering some type of financial assistance for businesses that have been negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
That assistance likely would come from a reduction in fees for liquor licenses and possibly businesses licenses, said Village Manager Kevin Barr.
“We’re trying to come up with something,” he said. “Some businesses, like restaurants with liquor licenses, have clearly been hurt by this, although, it’s impacted different businesses differently. We can imagine how an individual business is doing, but really don’t know.”
Barr said it’s likely the board will approve some relief for businesses that have been most hurt by the pandemic.
“It wouldn’t be a good use to give it to everyone,” he said. “Something like a liquor license would work well because it’s the most straightforward and easiest to look at.”
Barr said a reduction in business license fees for 2021 wouldn’t have much impact because the cost of those ranges from $60-$100.
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However, a reduction in fees for liquor licenses would be more significant, as the 13 licensees in the village pay $100 to $2,500 annually for those. Most of those include a $2,500 fee, as they are for restaurants with full bars, Barr said.
Any reduction in fees would result in reduced revenues for the village in 2021, but Barr said the financial shape of Clarendon Hills is stable enough to withstand that without a problem.
Village President Len Austin said he definitely wants the village to do what it can to help its businesses.
“I don’t want to dilly-dally with this,” he said. “We’ll discuss different possibilities and try to be fair to our businesses as a whole.”
Austin said the board likely will discuss assistance for businesses at its Jan. 4, 2021 meeting and make a final decision at its Jan. 19 meeting.
“We’ll talk about it and then see what the staff comes up with,” he said.
Derek Berg, co-president of the Clarendon Hills Chamber of Commerce, said any assistance can help.
“Everyone likes a discount,” he said. “The question is, is that enough and is that the best initiative to create significant long-term change.”
Berg said the Chamber has had conversation about adjusting dues for its members, but believes that allocating funds to a marketing campaign that inspires the local community to support businesses by creating awareness could potentially be better for struggling businesses than waiving a fee and giving a discounted membership.
“I don’t speak for the village, and all of our decisions are made by our Chamber board,” he said. “We need to continue to be creative about our solutions.”