Last year, BID’s co-directors Rick Messerschmidt and Gregg Drees, along with Dr. Joe Hull and Dan Vavra, conducted a comprehensive survey of all the businesses in Gregory to get a feel for how these businesses perceive the current economic future of the city and what the city can do to assist in those plans.
Of the businesses that responded, 50 believe that their business market is either stable or increasing, while only five felt that it is decreasing. Seventeen businesses plan to expand.
Only ten businesses are concerned about legislation adversely impacting their business. The concerns listed were COVID restrictions, a possible increase to minimum wage, increasing taxes because of proposed legislation to expand Medicare and Medicaid to all and other government spending, gaming laws, tariffs, marijuana legislation, and the CAFO bill.
Among the barriers to growth listed were no access to large funds, a lack of young people, affordable housing, a limited labor pool, competition from internet businesses, the location of the city, and not enough tradesmen. Some, however, saw the city’s location as a positive with larger cities located two-to-three hours away. Other strengths listed were the school, low crime rate, nice variety of businesses, great place to raise a family, honest people, hardworking people, small community loyalty, medical community, large trade area, and a welcoming atmosphere. Availability and stability of workers in the area is a concern for many of the businesses, and most believe the number of unfilled positions either stable or increasing. Some commented that it is difficult to find employees with a strong work ethic. Lack of affordable housing was another area of concern and is one of the contributing factors to the labor shortage.
Among community services, streets were rated the lowest, followed by lack of post-high school institutions nearby. Ambulance service, fire protection, and healthcare received the highest marks.
The survey results have a lot of information that will provide some direction for the city’s future. Messerschmidt’s take-away from the survey is: “The chamber, city, and BID all have some good constructive comments that will help to expand their base of support.”
Go to BID’s website to see the full results of the survey.
