The City of Puyallup has created a relief grant program to provide financial assistance to qualifying small businesses that have been negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Eligibility Criteria:
A business may apply for the grant if they meet the following criteria:
- Have an active City of Puyallup business license prior to March 1, 2020.
- Must have a physical location anywhere within city limits. Home-based businesses are not eligible.
- The business has temporarily closed or dramatically limited operations due to the public health orders related to the COVID-19 public health crisis and resulted in lost revenue.
- Have 20 or fewer employees (including the business owner)
- Be a for-profit business.
- Ability to provide excise tax returns that demonstrate loss of income due to Covid-19 and previous profitability.
Grant Information:
The City will award a one-time grant of up to $2,000 per qualifying business. Awards will be made via a lottery for those businesses that meet the eligibility requirements.
Only one grant can be awarded for each business owner/owner group regardless of the number of business locations. Priority may be given to businesses that have not received other government funding for COVID/CARES related costs.
What You Can Use the Grant Funds for:
- Payment of your business rent or required monthly business loan payments.
- Payments of essential wages, taxes, and normal benefits to your employees essential to maintain your business.
- Normal operating costs that are included in the cost of goods sold on your business income statements (raw materials for manufacturers, component pieces for assemblers, items for re-sale for retailers, food for restaurants, etc.)
- Normal operating expenses that are included on “operating expenses” your business income state (utilities, insurance, professional services, etc.)
- Normal draw or wages on a weekly or monthly basis to you as an owner.
What Are You Not Allowed to Use the Grant Funds for:
- Any expenses not considered eligible business expenses by IRS rules.
- Bonuses to owners or employees.
- Wages to any member of an owner’s family who is not a bona fide employee.
- Charitable contributions; political contributions.
- Gifts or parties.
- Draw or salary to the owner that exceeded the amount that they were paid on a weekly or monthly basis for the same period last year.
- Pay down or pay off debt by more than required in the underlying debt instrument.
What to expect after the application has been submitted:
Once an application has been submitted, the applicant will receive a confirmation email of their submission. All applications will be reviewed for eligibility. If incorrect, misleading, fraudulent, or incomplete information is submitted on the grant application, the application will be deemed ineligible.
Submitting an application is not a guarantee of a grant award. Grant awardees will be notified by e-mail once awards have been made.
Delivery of Funds:
Grant awardees will be required to fill out a W-9 form and sign a contract with the City of Puyallup. Grant proceeds will be paid directly to the applicant business within 10 business days after receipt of the signed contract and W-9.
Contact:
If you need assistance accessing or completing the application, please contact Jessica Johnson in the City Manager’s Office at 253-841-5584 or by emailing puyallupgrant@puyallupwa.gov.
How to Apply:
To apply, click here: COVID-19 SMALL BUSINESS RELIEF GRANT FORM
Applications will be accepted up until 11:59 pm, July 30, 2020. Only complete applications will be considered, and grant awards will be subject to funding availability. Each applicant must agree to be bound by the eligibility requirement and application processes of the grant program.
This project was supported by a grant awarded by the US Department of the Treasury. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the US Department of the Treasury. Grant funds are administered by the Local Government Coronavirus Relief Fund thru the Washington State Department of Commerce