Lyon County is allowing local brothels to offer non-sexual escort services, following a unanimous county board of commissioners vote on Oct.15, however the ‘cribs’ will remain closed, meaning sex workers must meet guests elsewhere for other services.
Since the pandemic started, brothels have remained closed by order of the state.
Sex workers are considered independent contractors, and their financial relief options have remained limited. Over 500 people remain unemployed due to the pandemic-induced closing of the four brothels in Lyon County.
The closures have affected the local economy as there are less people putting money back into local businesses. And while the brothels are not fully operational, this ordinance will allow for them to stay afloat and provide some income for people in the brothel business.
Meanwhile, Storey County is the only one of the eight participating counties to include brothels in its list of businesses that qualify for the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The $100 billion relief funding is designated to provide financial support those county’s that have been heavily impacted by COVID-19 shutdowns.
This includes the Mustang Ranch, which has had non-sexual escort services available since August and is owned by Storey County Commissioner and real estate magnate Lance Gilman, the Mustang Ranch is the only adult entertainment business that will be allowed to apply for CARES Act funding. Gilman estimates he has lost more than $1 million in operating expenses since the state-mandated brothel closure and more than $10 million in revenue.
The funding comes through a National Association of Counties (NACO) program that will distribute federal grants to small businesses financially impacted by COVID-19. While, brothels legally operate in seven Nevada counties only five of those counties are participating in the NACO program.
Douglas, Lincoln, Elko, Nye, Washoe and White Pine are also participating in the NACO program.
Of the other counties, Mineral County is not extending CARES Act funding to its brothel, while the Lander County commission chose not to accept CARES Act funding.
So far, Nevada has received a total of $1.25 billion in federal Cares Act funding, with 45 percent reserved for local governments. A total of $148.5 million will be paid to counties and incorporated cities with populations of less than 500,000 people.
In Lyon County, $10.5 million was allocated, with Fernley receiving $.39 million and Yerington receiving $592,000. Storey County received just $752,945 in funding with $200,000 being ear-marked for local businesses to apply for a share of.
Funding can be used for personal protective equipment, protective retrofits and expenses such as utilities, payroll and inventory.
And while brothels struggle to reopen, Nevada continues to see slow job growth as a significant number of people in the state remain jobless. According to the Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, Nevada added roughly 34-hundred jobs in September, marking the fifth straight month of job growth. However, Nevada is still down more than 127-thousand jobs compared to that same period last year.
For the same time period, Lyon County’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped from 8% to 7.3%
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