Home Antioch Antioch City Council Approves $435k in Funding for Small Business Assistance

Antioch City Council Approves $435k in Funding for Small Business Assistance

by ECT

On Tuesday, the Antioch City Council approved spending $435k in a small business relief package for Antioch businesses in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce.

In a 4-0 vote, the council agreed to $300k in CARES Act Funding along with $120k in reprogramming the economic development budget towards small business relief. The $15k was for the Antioch Chamber of Commerce administer the grant program.

Antioch Mayor Sean Wright recused himself from the item as he is associated with the Chamber of commerce and the Chamber of Commerce was associated with this agenda item. Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts took the lead to oversee the item.

Council member Lamar Thorpe said he was excited about this but had concerns about the Chamber and agendas.

“I am excited about this, I am particularly excited that the Chamber gets to play a role in this because I think its important for the work they do and city staff doesn’t get bogged down in some of this,” stated Thorpe.

He did question the oversight of the funding citing the chamber “does have some ideologies” out there and wanted to make sure there is a process and oversight is the city and not people with agendas.

Economic Director Kwame Reed stated that the city will have oversight on the final decision on the funding with an open process noting the funding will be distributed by the city and not the Chamber of Commerce.

According to the city, the $300k is allocated from the City’s Federal Cares Act disbursement to assist businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic through grants.

Business License Tax Relief will be allocated as a reduction or as a rebate (after the full cost of the renewal has been paid) of $100 on the renewal of existing Antioch businesses. To be eligible for the relief the business must meet the qualifications that include:

  • Have a current/active business license as of March 17, 2020
  • Have paid or will have paid for a renewal prior to March 16, 2021
  • Have no more than 50 employees
  • Do not have a national-brand affiliation

This is a one-time relief and only eligible to one owner per business.

Small Business Grants will be funded by the City’s CARES Act allocation. The CARES Act states that payments from the Fund may be used to cover costs associated with the provisions of grants to small businesses to reimburse the costs of business interruption caused by required closures. Businesses will be able to apply for $5,000 grants. This amount will allow 60 grants to be provided to support eligible Antioch small businesses.

To be eligible, business must:

  • Have a physical location in the Antioch city limits
  • Hold a current Antioch business license for one (1) year prior to January 1, 2020
  • No more than 25 employees
  • Demonstrate they were unable to operate due to the Shelter Orders or sales were down more than 25% from the previous quarter or the same quarter last year

Priority will be given to retail, personal service businesses, restaurants, and businesses that have not received federal assistance (PPP, EIDL, etc.). Eligible uses of the grant funding include safety expenses (protective equipment for employees and customers), operational improvement expenses (equipment or furnishings needed to operate outdoors/indoors to meet industry standard COVID-19 guidelines), and operating expenses (rent/mortgage payments for the business, utility bills, inventory, marketing). The businesses use of the grant funding will also be a factor in the process. The EDC recommended funds be used more towards safety and operational improvements.

The city will now work on rolling out the program to make businesses aware the grants are now available.

You may also like

3 comments

Diana Elizarraraz Aug 28, 2020 - 7:56 pm

Hi ..it is nice that the do the grants but why only for Antiovh i live in BAY POINT …can i apy please ..we need HELP thus small side too.

Robecca Sep 1, 2020 - 8:25 am

This is for Antioch Businesses. You would need to apply in your city.

Loretta Sweatt Aug 30, 2020 - 1:25 pm

How about cleaning up the garbage everywhere. Who shops in that environment?

Comments are closed.