The Wood County Commissioners, Doris Herringshaw, Craig LaHote, and Ted Bowlus today approved the use of up to $200,000 of federal CARES Act funds for a second round of the Wood County Small Business Relief Program.
The program will provide eligible small businesses with up to $5,000 to cover business interruption expenses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In July, the commissioners approved the use of $250,000 for this purpose. In that first round just 17 applications were received, with 10 receiving grants.
For round two, the program rules have been slightly modified to encourage more businesses to apply. Wade Gottschalk, director of the Wood County Office of Economic Development will administer the program.
Business owners can obtain application materials from the Wood County Office of Economic Development’s website at woodcountyedc.com. Applications will be accepted from 8:30 a.m. Monday, Nov. 9, through 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20.
To participate in the program, the business must have less than $1 million in gross annual revenue, have 30 or fewer employees, have experienced a decrease in gross revenue of 25% or more due to COVID-19, and have not received greater than $5,000 of federal assistance from the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) or Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL).
All expenses must be related to the business interruption caused by COVID-19. Eligible expenses include: mortgage costs; rent or lease costs; expenses for utilities; salaries, wages and compensation paid to employees; materials and supplies related to interruption of the business caused by required closures; and personal protective equipment or other COVID-19 related costs such as expenses related to compliance with Responsible Restart Ohio.
To date, Wood County government has received $6.7 million in federal CARES Act funding. This money is to be used to offset costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Commissioners have agreed to subgrant funds to many eligible entities in Wood County, including the Wood County Committee on Aging, Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board, Board of Developmental Disabilities, the Cocoon Shelter, Park District, Northwestern Water & Sewer District, as well as all offices and departments of county government.
