San Antonio City Council voted June 23 to adopt a plan to provide $30.95 million in federal pandemic relief funds meant to help local small businesses struggling with the lingering economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The city will use part of its American Rescue Plan Act allocation to fund the recovery plan, local officials said, adding each eligible business could receive up to $35,000.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg in a statement said using the ARPA money to help boost local small businesses is a chance to aid the overall economy.
“This robust plan will ensure that current needs are addressed and that we think strategically for the greater good of all of San Antonio,” Nirenberg said.
According to a city news release, the small-business recovery plan was developed with input collected by the San Antonio Small Business Advisory Commission, a survey of local small-business owners, and community and council feedback.
Local officials said the plan extends short-term relief through $17 million in direct grants to small businesses hardest hit by the pandemic.
City officials said not every type of business will be able to apply for the new recovery plan funds. To be eligible, a business must be in an industry that experienced at least 5% employment loss locally, had a drop in gross revenues in 2020 and 2021 when compared with 2019, and experienced a minimum 20% reduction in gross revenues from 2019 to 2021.
Additionally, liquor stores, sexually oriented businesses, payday and auto loan providers, franchisors, and gambling/gaming ventures are ineligible, the city said.
LiftFund US will administer the grant program. The application period will be open Aug. 1-22. Information about how to apply for these grants will be announced soon, city officials said.
“We will be sharing details during the second week in July about where to go for assistance,” Caitlin Cowart, public relations representative for the city’s economic development department, told Community Impact Newspaper.
Cowart said LiftFund will have a key role as the program administrator.
“We are also partnering with business development organizations who will also be available throughout the community to assist. Those details are being finalized now that the item has council approval,” she added.
City Manager Erik Walsh said the ARPA funding also provides an opportunity to build long-term resiliency in San Antonio’s small businesses.
“We want our small businesses to be able to withstand future unexpected economic downturns, and this recovery plan gets our local economy moving in a positive direction,” Walsh said.
According to the release, the recovery plan also invests money to provide small businesses with access to flexible capital funds and programs to help businesses strengthen their web and business capabilities, creates a coordinated small-business safety net, promotes consumption of local goods and services, and advocates for creating vibrant small-business communities.
District 8 Council Member Manny Pelaez, the chair of the council’s economic and workforce development committee, said in the release that input from small-business owners and other community stakeholders showed more money was needed in the hands of local small businesses.
“I feel confident that we have a solid plan that will effectively meet the requests of our local business community. Thank you to all the business owners who took the time to help to shape this outcome by sharing their experiences and struggles,” Pelaez said.
District 1 Council Member Mario Bravo said the new infusion of federal relief money is also an opportunity to help small businesses adversely and directly affected by road construction around their storefronts.
Bravo said eligible businesses affected by street construction could receive up to $10,000 separately from the maximum $35,000 that a business owner could collect from the recovery program.
Local small business Charles A. James Bicycle Shop, 319 N. Main Ave., recently shared a Facebook post in which shop owners voiced concerns that a months-long, city-funded project on North Main and Soledad Street will further reduce access to their store and put their business at risk.
“This is what I hate about the city—no input, no warning and too bad if your business is on the construction site,” the shop’s post said.
According to the city, the $9 million project that began in March and is scheduled to end in June 2023 involves the installation of a 27-inch sewer bypass near Fox Tech High School.
“I’ve heard from many [business owners], and this opportunity presented itself. I shared this idea with you, and you ran with it,” Bravo told his council colleagues.
