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Hundreds of small businesses in select areas of Pueblo are eligible to receive a share of about $300,000 in federal COVID-19-related grants, though the deadline to express interest is Friday.
Some restaurants, shops, and other businesses are eligible for city-dispensed grants ranging from $100 to over $7,000 from the influx of federal American Relief Plan funds.
The city’s finance department needs to know by Friday if businesses want to accept the grant.
The business must be located within a Pueblo “Qualifying Census District,” an area of the city where at least half of the households are low-income. The income threshold is calculated from the county’s regional median income and depends on how many people live in the household.
Much of the downtown area is within the census tract, as are parts of the East Side and Bessemer.
Pueblo public affairs director Haley Sue Robinson said that distributing federal funds only to eligible local businesses complies with federal guidelines on how grants are distributed. said.
Projects eligible for the grant will also be limited by the amount of work done between October 2021 and June 2022. Eligible businesses must also timely submit sales tax returns and pay sales tax within a nine-month period.
The size of the subsidy will depend on the income reported to the city by businesses, Robinson said.
If all businesses do not respond — as of Monday, chief staff Laura Solano said about 60 businesses have contacted the city to receive grant money — undistributed funds will be withdrawn by the city council. It may be reassigned.
Of the $36.7 million total, approximately $10 million is unallocated. Funds must be designated by the end of 2024 and spent by the end of 2026, according to the Business Grants Resolution background document.
The City Council unanimously passed a resolution authorizing the grant without debate on January 9.
Solano said at the meeting that City Council Speaker Heather Graham worked with city officials for several months to secure ARPA grants for small businesses and put the bill in motion for a vote in Congress.
The city sent letters to 171 businesses notifying them shortly after the council approved the resolution. Business owners should contact the city’s finance department by Friday.
To receive the grant, companies must obtain a unique identification number from the federal government and electronically complete the required forms.
Anna Lynn Winfrey is in charge of politics for the Pueblo Chieftain. You can contact her at awinfrey@gannett.com or @annalynnfrey on her Twitter.
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