As payments roll in, officials urge residents to spend locally

As local residents are beginning to see cash deposits into their bank accounts from the federal government’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, city and county officials are urging them to spend that money locally.

“We should shop Poplar Bluff to support our community,” said Poplar Bluff Mayor Robert Smith. “We need the sales tax revenue to continue operating as we have in the past.”

City manager Mark Massingham said since the pandemic began, “we’ve seen the people of Poplar Bluff and Butler County support their local merchants as much as they can, and with the stimulus money coming in, it’s even more important to do that.

“The sales tax dollars are what pays for the police, fire protection, streets and other employees.”

Tax revenue, Butler County Presiding Commissioner Vince Lampe said, is “the way we grade our roads and pay our help. We need everybody to shop Poplar Bluff.”

Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs agreed, saying “We need to shop locally because it supports our local tax base, our emergency services, our streets, roads and bridges.”

There’s more than just sales tax collections to shopping locally, Dobbs said, and buying local helps keep local business in operation.

“It stimulates the local economy, which has so many small businesses having hard financial times right now. They need the revenue,” Dobbs said.

Buying local also keeps people employed, said Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce President Steve Halter.

“These people who own these local stores and work there are our neighbors and family members. These are our friends, people we go to church with and people our kids play ball with,” Halter said. “These are people everyone needs to be very thoughtful of during this time and make sure we’re doing everything we can to keep them afloat and keep them with a paycheck.”

The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting stay-at-home orders, Halter said, have dramatically affected local businesses.

“Our small businesses and local businesses have had a major negative impact as a result of all this. Some have reduced hours or haven’t even been open, and if they have been open, they’ve had drastically reduced customer flow,” Halter explained.

Buying online has become ever more popular, Halter said, but he encourages people to look for local businesses online first.

“Obviously, people have gotten accustomed to buying things online,” Halter said. “But, we do have a lot of local businesses that do have an online presence.

“If you’ve gotten your stimulus check and, for whatever reason, you’re fearful of getting out to a local store, or maybe the store is not open, I would encourage people to look to see if our local businesses have an online presence and purchase from them.”

Halter remains optimistic local businesses can bounce back after the pandemic is over.

“I think our area can recover quicker than most,” Halter said. “No. 1, because we haven’t been hit as hard, and No. 2, for the most part, a lot of businesses have been able to stay open.

“I’m very thankful we have a city and county that try to let businesses be open and follow the state and federal guidelines.”

Some areas, he noted, have been much more restrictive.

The bottom line, Halter said, is the people across the region “are a really resilient group of citizens.

“We’ve taken on a lot with tornadoes, ice storms, flooding and all that, and we keep bouncing back.”