Pulaski County and the Town of Winamac are both moving ahead with applications for more COVID-19 relief for local businesses. Required public hearings were held last week for their COVID-19 Response Program applications.
Pulaski County is seeking $250,000 to provide grants to small businesses. The Community Development Commission is still working on finalizing the criteria, according to Executive Director Nathan Origer. “We haven’t decided if we will prioritize based on sector again with those industries hardest hit like food service and retail getting top priority,” he said during last week’s hearing. “We haven’t decided what we will do with businesses that received funding the first time around or not. It may depend on how many applicants we get this time, if we’re awarded.”
Meanwhile, the Town of Winamac is applying for about $150,000, according to Grant Administrator Mike Kleinpeter. “If awarded, the town will have an application that companies can fill out requesting grant funds at the end of April,” he explained. “Companies that receive these funds will have to document that at least 51 percent of the jobs retained are low-to-moderate income positions. A low-to-moderate income position is a job that pays less than $36,600 per year.”
As part of the state’s criteria, companies with up to 100 employees could each get up to $10,000. If both Winamac and Pulaski County get the grant funding, Origer said businesses within the town limits could choose to apply through one or the other, but not both.
This third round of the COVID-19 Response Program is more competitive than the first two, and more money is being requested than what the state had allocated. Local governments can boost their chances of getting funding by committing a local match, but neither Pulaski County nor Winamac has chosen to do that. Grant administration costs would be covered with the grant funding.
Grant recipients are expected to be announced on April 15. If approved, funding could start going to local businesses in June or July.
