News of the Day

A new internal survey finds nearly half of the state’s hotels and lodges may not make it another year without some financial assistance.

The numbers released by the Wisconsin Hotel & Lodging Association showed 47 percent of lodging facilities face closing within 12 months unless they receive a loan or grant assistance.

On top of that, the survey also revealed half of their pre-pandemic staff remain furloughed or laid off.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is the single greatest crisis the hotel and lodging industry has ever faced and the situation remains dire.  We need to see some true leadership out of Madison and at the federal level if the hotel and lodging industry is going to weather this storm,” WH&LA President & CEO Bill Elliott said.

The state association also pointed to national figures from the American Hotel & Lodging Association that reported more than two-thirds (68%) of respondents stated they would be able to make it six more months at current revenue projections without any relief. Nearly three-quarters predicted more layoffs would be likely as well.

President Donald Trump on Saturday officially nominated Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, setting up a contentious battle in the Senate.

Barrett has described herself as an “originalist,” meaning she interprets the Constitution based on what she believes was the original intent of its authors, a legal approach used by conservative members of the court.

Earlier this week, Governor Tony Evers announced that more than $5 million of funding from the federal CARES Act will be awarded for the expansion of high-speed, broadband internet. Funding will be awarded by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) to applicants from the 2020 broadband expansion grants that did not receive funding and are able to connect customers by December 30, 2020, and satisfy the requirements of the federal CARES Act.

The PSC houses the state Broadband Office, which administers the state’s Broadband Expansion Grant Program that provides grant funding to organizations, internet service providers, and local governments to expand in areas of the state that are underserved and unserved.

The CARES funding comes as the PSC is also accepting applications for a second round of $24 million in grants that was appropriated in the 2019-2021 state biennial budget. That application period closes December 1, and is expected to be awarded in spring of 2021.

The 2019-2021 biennial budget, which was signed by the Governor Evers last year, provided $48 million over the biennium for broadband expansion grants. For the 2020 round of funding, $24 million was made available. The PSC received 143 applications requesting $50.3 million for large and small projects.

In March of this year, the PSC awarded 72 grants to extend high-speed internet access to as many as 3,182 businesses and 46,537 homes, including 39,778 locations that are currently unserved. Since 2014, 210 grants have been awarded, and have connected or are in the process of connecting over 7,000 businesses and 117,000 homes to high-speed broadband internet service.

Wisconsin Department of Administration (DOA) Secretary Joel Brennan announced that state agencies will return more than $300 million to the state’s general fund in the current budget year (FY20-21). The savings will be generated based on specific targets that have been communicated to each agency.

The reductions follow Gov. Tony Evers’ July request that the DOA work with state agencies to identify $250 million in cost savings, known as lapses, for the current fiscal year (FY20-21), which ends June 30, 2021.

“There is no doubt that state agencies must make difficult decisions,” said Secretary Brennan. “This pandemic has affected every community in Wisconsin, and families across our state have also had to make tough decisions. This Administration is committed to taking the necessary actions to stabilize the state’s budget and spur on Wisconsin’s
economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The next step is for agencies to develop plans on how they will achieve their targeted savings amounts before the end of the fiscal year. Agencies are being asked to submit their lapse plans to the DOA by December 15, 2020.

Gov. Tony Evers has issued a new statewide mask mandate in Wisconsin, citing an increase in COVID-19 cases across the state.

The new order goes into effect immediately and will last until Nov. 21. It overlaps with a previous statewide mask order that was set to expire Monday. It is accompanied by a new public health emergency declaration in Wisconsin, the governor’s third public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic since March.

The governor’s new mandate mirrors requirements in the previous mask order. It will require people 5 years old and older to wear masks in indoor or “enclosed” public places when people who don’t live with them are present. There are exemptions for certain activities, like eating, drinking and swimming.

The new order has the same $200 penalty for noncompliance as the previous mandate.

It’s been quite a run for the Wisconsin real estate market this summer as the re-opening of the state’s economy in June combined with record-low mortgage interest rates resulted in a new three-month record in home sales, according to the most recent analysis of the state housing market by the Wisconsin REALTORS^® Association (WRA).

Focusing on the August 2020 market, sales rose 0.7% relative to August 2019. At the same time, tight inventories drove median prices up 14.1% to $235,000. On a year-to-date basis, existing home sales were just 1% below the first eight months of last year, and median prices rose 8.8% to $219,500.

A review of summer home sales indicates growth of 2.8% compared to the June-through-August period of 2019. Although June home sales saw a modest decline relative to that same month in 2019, very robust sales growth in July and a slight improvement in the August market pushed summer home sales to 27,795, which is the strongest summer sales volume on record for the state.

“We’ve seen remarkable resilience in this market, given the strong headwinds we faced this year,” said WRA Chairman Steve Beers, noting low inventories have kept the state in a strong seller’s market for the last three years, which has limited buying opportunities. Moreover, the recent COVID-induced recession effectively shut down the housing market in the latter part of the spring. “The good news is that mortgage rates have never been lower,” said Beers. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage continued its downward trend, falling to 2.94% in August, setting a new record low for the fifth straight month, and that has really fueled housing demand.

Gov. Tony Evers announced Friday that he has asked for and received the resignation of Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Secretary Caleb Frostman. Frostman’s resignation is effective immediately.

“People across our state are struggling to make ends meet, and it is unacceptable that Wisconsinites continue to wait for the support they need during these challenging times,” said Evers. “It is clear that our unemployment system has faced historic levels of claims these past few months, hindered in part by antiquated technology we inherited, and processes designed by Republicans to make it harder for folks to get these benefits.”

More than 130 DWD employees have been reassigned to the Unemployment Insurance Division, according to Evers. In total, the DWD now has more than 1,500 individuals working on UI cases, a 250 percent increase from 600 individuals previously, according to Evers.

“We have continued to add additional state resources to support the DWD, but it is clear that we must have change if we are going to address these problems to get folks their benefits faster,” he said.

Department of Corrections (DOC) Deputy Secretary Amy Pechacek will lead the transition until the new DWD secretary is appointed.

Wisconsin added 16,700 private sector jobs from July to August, a 0.7% increase, and the state’s unemployment rate dropped from 7.1% to 6.2%, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released yesterday by the Department of Workforce Development.

Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is still below the national average, which was 8.4% in August. Wisconsin’s unemployment rate saw the largest jump from 3.1% in March to 13.6% in April. The unemployment rate has steadily declined since May (12.1%) and June (8.6%).

The state’s labor force participation rate was 65.4% in August, which is higher than the nation’s labor force participation rate of 61.7%.

So far, the state has recovered 206,900 jobs, which places Wisconsin at the halfway point of recovering total jobs lost (395,800) since the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.

The Federal Reserve concluded its final policy-setting meeting before the November presidential election on Wednesday with a renewed pledge to hold interest rates near zero and keep them there until inflation is consistently rising.

The U.S. central bank, as widely expected, held the benchmark federal funds rate at a range between 0 percent and 0.25 percent, where it has been since mid-March. Updated guidance shows that Fed officials expect rates to remain near-zero through 2023. Officials also changed their projections to reflect a smaller decline in the nation’s GDP and a lower unemployment rate of 7.6% at the end of 2020.

The economic projections from individual Fed members showed that a majority of policymakers expect to keep the benchmark federal funds rate at near zero through the end of 2023. One official saw rates increasing in 2022, and four officials saw them increasing in 2023.

“With inflation running persistently below this longer run goal, the Committee will aim to achieve inflation moderately above 2 percent for some time so that inflation averages 2 percent over time and longer-term inflation expectations remain well anchored at 2 percent. The Committee expects to maintain an accommodative stance of monetary policy until these outcomes are achieved,” the Fed’s post-meeting statement said.

Sales at retail stores across the country rose in August for the third month in a row in another display of the economy’s resilience.

Retail sales are a big part of consumer spending and typically increase when the economy improves and Americans feel more confident to spend. Sales have exceeded precrisis levels since June, a remarkable turnaround that few economists would have predicted early in the pandemic.

Sales rose 0.2% at auto dealers, which account for about one-fifth of all retail spending. Gas station receipts also increased 0.4%, largely reflecting an increase in the cost of gasoline.

Sales rose 4.7% at bars and restaurants as people went out to eat more or ordered more takeout. Higher spending at restaurants even in the face of ongoing limits on indoor seating is a good sign. People tend to spend less at restaurants when they are more worried about the economy.

Sales rose more modestly at home centers, pharmacies, electronic and appliance stores and clothing outlets.