Mayor Izzo says Rome is well positioned for another 'inevitable' COVID spike By Luke Perry

Rome Mayor Jackie Izzo said the COVID pandemic is all encompassing and “every day brings a new challenge.”

“You’re trying to help business owners. You’re trying to help non-profit organizations. You’re trying to still maintain your operations in the city with no money,” Izzo told Keeler in the Morning (WIBX in Utica).

Yesterday the U.S. set its single day record for the most new confirmed COVID cases. “It’s a little disconcerting watching what’s happening around the country,” Izzo replied. “The fact that people aren’t taking this seriously. The numbers bear that out.”

Things are more hopeful locally. New York State has not exceeded 1,000 new cases any day this month, after peaking at 10,622 on April 9. There has not been a big spike since the state began phased reopening on May 13.

Photo from Mayor Izzo (November 2019)

“I think we’re doing really well. I think this is one of the few places in the country that’s taking it seriously,” Izzo explained. “I think we’ve got pretty good compliance with people wearing masks and being diligent, but we can’t be naive.  I’m sure this thing is going to circle back around and we’re probably going to have another spike.”

Izzo thinks it would be unwise to scale back precautions, particularly considering New York is a “gateway” state, making it vulnerable to infection from travel. “There are 12,000 people a day who come into New York State just from the state of Florida,” Izzo said.

When another spike happens, which Izzo believes is “inevitable,” Rome’s focus is positioning businesses so they can remain open. “That’s the big thing,” Izzo said. “We don’t want to have a complete shutdown again.”

Many businesses have approached reopening with this in mind. “They’re trying to conduct their operations in a manner that if we have to pull back a little bit, they can pull back a little bit, but not close,” Izzo said.  

Izzo is concerned for the businesses who have not yet been permitted to open. “We want to get everybody back up and running, then we wait and mitigate till the next round.”

Photo from City of Rome

Izzo believes construction and the employment situation are in relatively good shape. “We have been extremely fortunate here in Rome,” Izzo explained, by getting most of building projects exempted, including “all of our big ones.”

Izzo thinks Rome probably has “more construction going on here than most places in Central New York.” “We’re happy about that,” Izzo said.

As a result, the projected job growth is still on track. Some new facilities, including the Open Innovation Campus and Air City Lofts, will open soon.

Photo from Griffiths Institute

The biggest problem facing the city is “figuring out how we continue operating with less state funding,” Izzo said. The reality is that payments to some municipalities have fallen 20 percent. The state spent money to fight the pandemic, while already facing a budget deficit.  

Rome took several steps to “mitigate the economic impact,” including a Shared Work Program, involving 80 employees, which Izzo believes is “working well right now.”

Izzo said “the sales tax seems to be coming back a little bit,” which “could be a bright spot.” Rome experienced a 25 percent decrease earlier in the year.

“It’s going to be a tough year,” Izzo said, “and trying to look at next year is going to be difficult as well.”

Luke Perry (@PolSciLukePerry) is Professor of Government at Utica College