Has your small business been impacted by COVID-19? Manatee County may give you $5,000
Local help is on the way for small business owners in Manatee County who were affected by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ statewide shutdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Certain businesses that qualify may be eligible for up to $5,000 in funding, thanks to a new Recover Manatee program run by the county’s Redevelopment and Economic Opportunity Department. The organization has detailed the guidelines required to receive funding.
To qualify, a business must employ 15 or fewer full-time equivalent workers, have documented proof of losses incurred during the shutdown and no prior receipt of funds from the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan or the Paycheck Protection Program, among other criteria.
The Manatee Board of County Commissioners is set to approve guidelines for the program during Tuesday’s public meeting. County staff previously briefed board members on the program, noting that the funds would be used to help the businesses and industries most affected by the pandemic.
Commissioners agreed that the grants could help get the economy back on the right track. If approved, an application process will open up in the coming weeks.
The goal of the program is “to restart commerce and economic activity in Manatee County, thus engendering consumer confidence by assisting the hardest hit small businesses reopen safely for their employees and customers,” officials said.
Businesses that earn grants will be allowed to use the money to buy sanitation and safety supplies, signage, marketing, outdoor seating, inventory and material, equipment and software, according to county documents.
The county plans to use former CRA funds as well as Southwest Tax Increment Funds to pay for the grants. Staff are still investigating other funding sources.
“We don’t have all the answers, but this is a framework,” Geri Lopez, director of REO, told the board at a previous meeting. “This recovery will be like nothing else we have seen, as you all can imagine. There’s lots of components and lots of pieces and that’s why we need to work together to put the pie together.”
Lopez’s staff are also proposing to modify existing Economic Development Incentive agreements for companies that begin re-hiring employees that were laid off because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Commissioners will discuss both economic development assistance programs Tuesday. For more information, visit www.MyManatee.org/RecoverManatee.
