Washington County will extend its program to provide financial assistance for businesses in the county that have been negatively impacted through additional expenses or lost revenue due to closures during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and extend assistance to hospitals and schools, and provide assistance to chambers of commerce and food shelves within Washington County.

The Washington County Board of Commissioners approved the expansion of the county’s COVID-19 financial relief programs Oct. 20.

The county received $31.7 million from the CARES Act/Coronavirus Relief Fund. More than half has been allocated to provide financial assistance to county residents and businesses. The county will use a portion of the funding to reimburse itself for expenditures made to manage the pandemic, and modifications made to county facilities to allow county business to continue safely.

Using CARES funds, the County Board created a Small Business Relief Fund to provide grants of up to $15,000 to small businesses in need of support. There have been two rounds of applications; Tuesday’s action extends that program through Nov. 4.

The county is also providing assistance to homeowners and renters who have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The program for the Small Business Relief Fund is being administered by the Community Development Agency (CDA). Recipients:

•Must be a locally owned and operated for-profit business in the county. Multiple individual businesses in the county that are owned by one owner are eligible to apply;

•To receive up to the maximum $15,000 funding limit, businesses must have at least one full- time equivalent employee, in addition to the owner as of March 1, and not more than 75, and generate less than $5 million in annual revenues;

•Have been operating Jan. 1, 2020; and

•Demonstrate a significant loss in revenue since March 15.

Home-based businesses and self-employed entrepreneurs are eligible for grants of up to $7,500; however, priority will be given to employer businesses with separate non-residential property addresses.

Applications are managed by Open to Business at the Washington County Community Development Agency, 7645 Currell Blvd., Woodbury; telephone 612-789-8838, and email [email protected] mccdmn. org. More information is at www.washingtoncountycda. org/ The homeowners program for mortgage assistance is also being administered by the CDA. Information on that program may also be found on the CDA website.

Renters’ assistance, which is also available to pay utilities, is being administered by Washington County. See information on the county’s website at www.co.washington.mn.us by searching “emergency assistance programs.”

At the Oct. 20 meeting, the County Board also agreed to provide $300,000 for chambers of commerce and food shelves, $1.5 million to hospitals, and $2 million to schools.

Economic assistance of $1.5 million directed to hospitals is to be used to reimburse a portion of their COVID-19-related costs for supplies, disposable equipment, training and education costs, and economic assistance to public schools of $2 million is to reimburse a portion of their COVID-19related costs.