Denton County to use $2.2M to help small businesses affected by coronavirus

Denton County Commissioners Court will launch a small business grant program May 13 to provide up to $10,000 in grants to the Denton County businesses that were closed the longest due to the coronavirus.

The program, Denton County OPEN, is funded by $2.2 million of non-taxpayer dollars that Denton County accumulated and set aside from CoServ Capital Credit funds over a 20-year period, according to officials. The program will be active from noon May 13 to noon May 20.

“This program has been more than a month in the development process,” Denton County Judge Andy Eads said. “The Denton County Commissioners Court has been and continues to be committed to supporting our local businesses. We know this has been a difficult period for many, and we hope this is just the beginning of our efforts to help in the recovery of our local economy.”

Denton County commissioners unanimously approved a Chapter 381 economic development agreement to make the grant available to the local business community at a May 8 meeting.

The first phase of Denton County OPEN will be available to for-profit businesses that are headquartered in the county and have 50 or fewer employees. The amount of money a business can receive through the program will be based on the percentage of operations the business had to close during the county’s stay-at-home order. Those that were fully closed will be eligible for 100% of the grant, while those that were partially closed will be eligible to receive up to 75% of the grant.

The county will give individual grants based on need, eligibility, number of employees and the extent of loss experienced due to full or partial closure, according to officials.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has been a difficult time for all of our business community and, especially, our small businesses,” said Michael Talley, Denton County’s director of economic development. “We believe this program will assist our local businesses as they begin to reopen.”

Readers can find more information about the program at the county’s website.