Clarion University’s decision to conduct fall classes primarily as remote instruction means the on-campus student population will be reduced, and that worries Clarion Borough Council President Carol Lapinto.
“I don’t know if the word ‘devastating’ is the appropriate word, but it certainly has a lot of people worried,” Lapinto said.
“It will definitely affect our downtown businesses. I’m sure they were all looking forward to the students coming back after the early shutdown last semester. This is going to affect everyone in some way. The hair salons, the retail shops, the restaurants, the fast-food places”
Lapinto also is concerned about how the loss of on-campus instruction will affect the borough’s finances.
The yet-to-be-seen
It remains to be seen how many students will opt to remain in Clarion to receive remote instruction they can access at home.
Lapinto said the borough was not alerted to the university’s decision until it was released to the public on July 29.
“I think we would have liked to have been included in those discussions,” Lapinto said. “I realize it probably wouldn’t have made any difference in the final decision, but it might have helped us prepare.”
A significant decrease in the student population in Clarion Borough is expected to reduce revenues in several areas.
“There are the ‘bad’ things as people might want to call them -the parking permit fees, the parking meter money, the parking ticket revenues and even the fines at the district and county court levels,” Lapinto said. “But those revenues have always been part of the borough’s budget, and they were figured in for 2020.”
Other losses of revenue could include a decrease in earned income tax revenue, as fewer students would be employed by businesses in the borough and by the university.
“And if there are layoffs of full-time, regular employees and staff at the university, that will affect the borough, too,” Lapinto said.
Fewer students in university housing and in private rental units means fewer customers for cable TV and internet services, a utility from which the borough collects a franchise fee.
Fewer students in town also means decreased tonnage of recyclable materials, and that in turn could reduce the amount of grant money the borough receives to operate its state-mandated recycling collection service.
Lapinto noted some students at the university were counted as borough residents during the U.S. census. A lower number of those students could affect federal and state funding.
“Plus, if the landlords of the student rentals don’t have renters, they might not keep those units,” Lapinto said. “The borough has collected all the rental unit permit fees for 2020, but it remains to be seen how that might affect 2021.”
The Clarion News attempted to contact several landlords of multiple rental units commonly rented by university students. No calls were returned.
Looking ahead
Lapinto said borough officials will soon meet with financial planners to map out strategies. Trying to project the total of lost revenue also will be discussed.
“The spring shutdown and the concerns that it might continue into the fall – and it looks like it will – already affected some of the things we hoped to accomplish this year,” Lapinto said.
“We put off hiring another police officer, we put off buying a new truck for public works and we held back on the amount of street paving this year.”
Lapinto said the effects of the loss of the student population is expected to extend past the borough’s boundaries.
“The hotels and motels, the businesses in the Cook Forest area – really, everywhere around here, is going to feel this,” Lapinto said. “We all have to look at this and plan accordingly.”