Grant details adjusted

The application for Portland’s Small Business Resilience Grant program is closer to being finalized.

Portland Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT) Advisory Committee met Thursday for the second time this week to add and subtract to the proposed requirements for the grant, which is capped at $1,250 for any eligible business in the city for financial hardships experienced during the coronavirus pandemic.

Portland City Council is expected to hear the addenda to the program as recommended by the EDIT advisory committee and give input at its meeting Monday.

The Google Forms-based online-only application, which is tentatively scheduled to open at 8 a.m. Tuesday, will now require applicants to certify that any grant money will not be used toward expenses already addressed by funds from the state or federal governments through the paycheck protection program (PPP) in addition to submitting tax forms.

Applicants will also be required to either submit profit losses in the second financial quarter compared to the second quarter of 2019 or submit invoices or receipts for COVID-19 related costs since or projected costs in the future.

Businesses will only be eligible for the grant if it regularly employs 30 full-time employees or fewer, has an annual revenue less than $1.5 million and is up-to-date on its property tax payments.

Subtracted from the program since it was established is the requirement for businesses to have a “physical operation” within city limits in order to receive grant money.

Committee members Travis Richards, Janet Powers, Lori Phillips, Mike Aker, Kent McClung and John Boggs picked and chose what they liked from other counties’ applications for similar programs, attempting to meet in the middle between only requiring what the city is legally obligated to when handing out a grant and requiring too much for a business to feasibility provide.

“I would rather be cheated than someone not fill out an application,” Boggs said, advocating for the least cumbersome application possible to avoid deterring businesses from applying for the grant.

Boggs, who established the program through executive order July 29, said it is as much about the gesture as it is the dollar amount.

Committee members agreed that it is likely that most if not all completed applications will be awarded at least some grant money. Members concluded the high approval rate could present the opportunity that some businesses take advantage of the program but that the low dollar amount and the implications of a fraud charge made it a non-issue.

“If you falsify an application on something like this, it’s fraud,” said McClung, who advocated for putting certification boxes on the application to record that applicants acknowledged that the grant money is primarily for COVID-19 related expenses and can only be used for payroll, rent and utilities if that business had not received money via PPP.

Richards and McClung reiterated the need for businesses to apply for PPP money if they have not already done so.

“After the (2005) ice storm, the federal government came here handing out money like candy at a parade ... I wouldn’t want to do that as a local entity, but I sure do want to hook them up with an entity that does do that,” McClung said.

Realistically, Boggs said he expects around 75 businesses to apply for the grant, which would amount to $93,750 if all of them were awarded the maximum $1,250.

Portland already has $150,000 set aside in the general EDIT fund that can be used to fund the grant program. More can be requested if needed.

The tentative deadline for completed applications is Oct. 31.